The AIADMK has swept all the four Assembly constituencies in the district thrashing DMK rivals, proving that it is an AIADMK bastion in the Assembly elections on Thursday.
The AIADMK candidates emerged winners in all the four assembly constituencies with a comfortable margin. The Finance Minister O. Paneerselvam retained Bodinayakkanur by a margin of 15, 428 votes after defeating his arch rival S. Lakshmanan again.
Of the 2,01,579 polled votes, Mr. Paneerselvam garnered 99,531 votes and S. Lakshmanan 83,923 votes. It was not a cake walk for OPS this time as Mr. Lakshmanan gave a tough fight. Even as Mr. Paneerselvam dominated in the first few rounds, DMK candidate got more votes than OPS in 6, 9, 10, 11, 16 and 20{+t}{+h}rounds. But the AIADMK garnered rural votes and pushed the DMK behind in the subsequent rounds.
Even as Paneerselvam gained more votes in this election than the 2011 polls (95,235 votes in 2011), his margin came down to 15,248 against his 2011 margin of 29,906. Mr. Lakshmanan had garnered 65,329 votes in 2011.
DMK draws blank
The DMK drew blank in the district as sitting MLA N. Ramakrishnan (DMK) bit the dust in Cumbum. Mr. Ramakrishanan, who tried his luck for the third time, was defeated by AIADMK veteran S.K.T. Jaggaiyan.
Mr. Ramakrishan had retained the constituency in 2011 and in 2006 election by switching his loyalty to DMK and MDMK respectively.
But this time, Mr Jakkaiyan garnered 91,099 votes and Ramakrishanan gained 70,878 votes. But TMC candidate and three-time MLA O.R. Ramachandran got 10,149 votes, less than the margin of 11,221 votes between AIADMK and DMK.
Of the 2,01,579 polled votes, OPS polled 99,531 votes, S. Lakshmanan 83,923 votes
