The victory margin of 50,249 votes registered by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi from Tiruvarur constituency is the highest -ever recorded by him in the 12 Assembly elections he has contested since 1957.
Mr. Karunanidhi polled 1,09,014 votes, to defeat Kodavasal M. Rajendran of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, who secured 58,765 votes. This is the first time Mr. Karunanidhi contested from his home constituency.
The DMK took the historic decision to jump into the electoral fray at its second State conference held in Tiruchi in 1956. The party fielded young leader Mr. Karunanidhi in the newly created Kulithalai Assembly constituency which was then in the composite Tiruchi district (at present in Karur district) in the second general elections held in 1957.
Mr. Karunanidhi won by a margin of 8,296 votes over his Congress rival K.A. Dharmalingam.
While Mr. Karunanidhi polled 22,785 votes, Mr. Dharmalingam tallied 14,489 votes. The composite Tiruchi district in the 1957 elections accounted for 17 constituencies, and the DMK managed to capture only Kulithalai seat. In the next general elections held in 1962, the DMK fielded Mr. Karunanidhi in Thanjavur and he was pitted against veteran Congress leader and close associate of K. Kamaraj, A.Y.S. Parisutha Nadar. Mr. Karunanidhi won by a margin of 2,828 votes.
While the DMK leader polled 33,145 votes, late Parisutha Nadar got 30,317 votes.
These were the only two elections he contested from the districts apart from the current election. In all other subsequent elections, he preferred to contest from the constituencies in Chennai city. Mr. Karunanidhi could manage to register a victory margin of a meagre 699 votes against the AIADMK candidate H.V. Hande in Anna Nagar in the 1980 elections and this was his lowest victory margin.
Yet another unimpressive performance was recorded in the 1991 elections, when he managed to defeat K. Subbu of Congress (now in the DMK) by a slender margin of 890 votes in the Harbour constituency.
The victory margins of Mr. Karunanidhi in the other elections are: 20,482 votes in Saidapet (1967 elections); 12,511 votes in Saidapet (1971); 16,438 votes in Annanagar (1977); 31,991 votes in Harbour (1989); 35,784 votes in Chepauk (1996); 4,834 votes in Chepauk (2001) and 8,523 votes in Chepauk (2006).
