DMK, allies make a comeback in Tirunelveli district

The wrests five segments from the AIADMK this time in the keenly fought battle of ballots.

H. Vasanthakumar of Congress being greeted by his supporters in Tirunelveli on Thursday.— Photo: A. Shaikmohideen

Making a decent comeback, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led front, which lost nine of the ten Assembly constituencies in the district to its arch rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its then electoral ally Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam in the 2011 polls, has wrested five segments this time in the keenly fought battle of ballots.

The DMK won Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli and Alangulam constituencies while its allies Congress wrested Nanguneri and the Indian Union Muslim League bagged Kadayanallur segments. The ruling AIADMK, which contested the May 16 polls on its own, has this time won Radhapuram, Ambasamudram, Tenkasi, Vasudevanallur (Reserved) and Sankarankovil (Reserved) constituencies.

While the prominent winners are 3-time MLA T.P.M. Mohideen Khan in Palayamkottai, former minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna in Alangulam and renowned businessman H. Vasanthakumar in Nanguneri segments, the striking losers are former Speaker R. Avudaiyappan at Ambasamudram, former minister and sitting MLA of Tirunelveli Nainar Nagenthran and three-time MLA M. Appavu at Radhapuram.

As expected, DMK candidates Ms. Poongothai Aladi Aruna of Alangulam managed to win this segment by a thin margin of 4,000 votes and Mr. Mohideen Khan, who is the ‘sitting MLA’ of Palayamkottai registered a comfortable victory.

While Congress candidate for Nanguneri constituency H. Vasanthakumar defeated AIADMK’s M. Vijayakumar by a comfortable margin of over 17,000 votes, the national party’s candidate at Tenkasi S. Palani Nadar lost the battle by a whisker as he lost to C. Selvamohandas Pandian of AIADMK by a trivial margin of 462 votes. In the Muslim-dominant Kadayanallur constituency, DMK’s ally K.A.M. Mohamed Abubucker of Indian Union Muslim League defeated S. Shaik Dawood of Tamil Maanila Muslim League, who contested the election in AIADMK ticket with its famous ‘Two Leaves’ symbol, by a margin of just over 1,000 votes.

Former Industries Minister and sitting MLA of Tirunelveli constituency, who defeated DMK’s A.L.S. Lakshmanan in the 2011 Assembly polls with a thumping margin of over 38,000 votes, lost the battle to the same candidate this time by an insignificant margin of just 601 votes. Similarly, Mr. Avudaiyappan, who has defeated AIADMK’s R. Murugaiah Pandian twice, lost the battle this time to the same opponent by a comfortable margin of over 13,000 votes.

The biggest upset is the unexpected defeat of three-time MLA M. Appavu of DMK, who lost the battle to AIADMK’s I.S. Inbadurai by superficial margin of just 49 votes.