Although the DMDK-PWF combine drew a blank in the Assembly election, the Third Front along with the Pattali Makkal Katchi played the spoiler in many of the constituencies in central region by securing more votes than the victory margins of the Dravidian parties.
The BJP and smaller parties such as the NTK also caused a split in votes. In some constituencies, voters opting for NOTA (None of the above) too impacted on the outcome of the election. Even in rural constituencies, many voters had favoured NOTA.
In Tiruchi district, the Third Front along with a few other parties secured more votes than the victory margins in eight of the nine constituencies. In closely fought contests, this made a vital difference.
In Manapparai, the DMDK candidate P.Krishna Gopal polled 26,316 votes, higher than the AIADMK’s victory margin of 18,277.
The DMDK, BJP, Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) and an Independent shared 34,711 votes among themselves, clearly queering the pitch for the IUML candidate M.A.Mohamed Nizam in the DMK alliance.
Though a rural constituency, as many as 3,364 voters had opted for NOTA here.
The votes polled by the DMDK-PWF candidates individually were higher that the victory margin in Manachanallur and Lalgudi.
In Manchanallur, the DMDK, BJP and NTK together polled 13,559 votes against the AIADMK’s winning margin of 13,559. In Lalgudi, where A.Soundarapandian of DMK managed to win by 3,837 votes, the CPI (M) candidate M.Jayaseelan polled 6,784 votes and NOTA votes was the next highest with 1,953 votes. In Tiruverumbur, the DMDK along with NTK, BJP and PMK accounted for 21,150 votes, substantially higher than the DMK’s margin of 16,695.
In Tiruchi East, the MDMK and the other three parties tallied 22,803 votes. The constituency also had 4,329 votes for NOTA. In Srirangam, the BJP, CPI, NTK and PMK polled 16,277 votes against the victory margin of 14,409 votes.
In several constituencies in the delta, the PMK and the PWF Front candidates had an impact on the final outcome by splitting the votes. In Mayiladuthurai, the PMK stood third securing 13,115 votes followed by the DMDK with 12,294 votes against the AIADMK’s victory margin of just 4,778.
In Poompuhar, the PMK and TMC candidates together secured 31,227 votes much higher than AIADMK’s victory margin of 19,935. The same pattern could be seen in many constituencies in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts. In Vedaranyam, the BJP candidate S.K.Vetharathinam came a close third polling 37,086, much higher than the victory margin of 22,998.
Kunnam in Perambalur district was another constituency where the PMK with 37,271 votes and the VCK with 19,853 votes made a decisive impact on the outcome.
In Tiruthuraipoonid, where the DMK won by 13,250 votes, K.Ulaganathan of the CPI tallied 33,038 votes.
While the AIADMK trumped by a margin of 441 votes in a close fight with the Congress in Karur, the DMDK polled 6491 votes, the BJP 3995, NTK 2968 and the KMDK 1552 votes. As many as 3,595 voters had opted for NOTA here.
