The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has retained the Tiruchi Lok Sabha seat with sitting MP P.Kumar defeating first-time contender M.Anbazhagan of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam by a huge margin of 1,50,476 votes.
Mr.Kumar, who managed a narrow victory over former Mayor Sarubala R.Tondaiman of the Congress in the 2009 election by a margin of just 4,335 votes, rode the popular wave in support of his party to achieve a big win this time.
He polled 4,58,478 votes against Mr.Anbazhagan’s tally of 3,08,002 votes.
The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam’s A.M.G.Vijaykumar finished third with 94,785 votes. Ms.Tondaiman, who contested again this time, finished a distant fourth with a tally of 51,537 votes. She was the runner up in 2009 with a tally of 2,94,375 votes when the Congress contested the election in alliance with the DMK. Mr.Vijayakumar had then stood third with 61,742 votes.
S.Sridhar of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) polled 17,039 votes. The Aam Admi Party too failed to make an impact with its candidate P.Ravi managing a tally of just 4,885. Over 22,800 voters had opted for None of The Above (NOTA).
Unlike the previous election, Mr.Kumar established an early lead of 10,178 votes right in the first round and never looked back. The margin of difference grew steadily with each round with strong support coming in from Srirangam, Gandharvakottai, and Pudukottai Assembly segments. Mr.Kumar did not fare badly either in the other three Assembly segments of Tiruchi East, Tiruchi West, and Tiruverumbur, where the DMK was expected to put up a strong show.
Mr.Anbazhagan got more votes than Mr.Kumar only in four of the 21 rounds in Tiruchi West Assembly segment and only in one round in Tiruchi East segment. In all other segments, every round went in favour of Mr.Kumar.
Except Mr.Anbazhagan, all the other 27 candidates lost their deposits in the constituency.
