The None of the Above (NOTA) votes have played a spoilsport in six of the 16 Assembly constituencies in Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts where the winning margin was lesser than the NOTA votes polled.
The six constituencies include Ottapidaram where Puthiya Tamilagam founder K. Krishnasamy lost to All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s R. Sundararaj by a margin of just 493 votes. There were 2,613 NOTA votes in this constituency, which was 1.63 per cent of the total votes polled.
The other constituencies were Kadayanallur, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli and Radhapuram in Tirunelveli district and Kovilpatti in Thoothukudi district.
In Radhapuram constituency, where DMK’s M. Appavu lost by a wafer-thin margin of 49 votes, which is the lowest winning margin in the State, the NOTA votes polled were 1,821 votes.
IUML
Similarly, the Indian Union Muslim League, the only party other than AIADMK, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Congress to enter the Assembly this time, won Kadayanallur seat by a margin of 1,194 votes while the NOTA votes were 1,969.
Of these six constituencies, the lower-than-NOTA victory margin went in favour of the AIADMK in four constituencies while it benefitted the DMK and its alliance partner IUML in one each.
In Virudhunagar constituency, where DMK’s R.R. Seenivasan won by a margin of 2,870 votes, NOTA votes were 2,835, just 35 lesser.
Analysis of all the 58 constituencies in southern districts, however, shows that the victory margin was considerably higher than NOTA votes in almost all other constituencies.
Highest in Madurai North
Among the southern districts, with 2.25 per cent (3,479 votes), Madurai North polled the maximum number of NOTA votes.
Among the top 10 constituencies with the highest number of NOTA votes in southern district, five were from Madurai district although these votes were much lower than the victory margin.
The second highest number of NOTA votes was in Tenkasi where the victory margin was lesser than the NOTA votes.
