Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) and Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) seem to have played a role in AIADMK candidates winning in six of the 10 Assembly constituencies, as the votes the two parties’ candidates had got in the just-concluded Assembly election was more than victory margin.
Of the remaining four, in Sulur, AIADMK’s V.P. Kandasamy polled 1.18 lakh, which was 31,932 votes more than Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi candidate Premier Selvam, who contested with the DMK’s rising sun symbol.
The vote difference was more than the total of votes the MNM (12,658) and NTK (14,426) had polled. Similarly in Thondamuthur, AIADMK’s S.P. Velumani had polled 41,630 votes more than his DMK rival Karthikeya Sivasenapathy, which was much more than the total of votes polled by MNM and NTK – 19,648.
In Coimbatore South, which saw a triangular contest because of MNM president Kamal Haasan’s candidature, Congress candidate Mayura Jayakumar was pushed to the third slot.
And, in Valparai, AIADMK candidate T.K. Amulkandasami’s victory margin of 12,223 was more than the votes the MNM and NTK had polled.
But the scenario in Mettupalayam, Kavundampalayam, Coimbatore North, Singanallur, Kinathukadavu and Pollachi is different.
In Mettupalayam, AIADMK’s A.K. Selvaraj managed a lead of only 2,456 votes, which was fewer than the 10,954 votes that the NTK had polled. In Kavundampalayam too, AIADMK candidate P.R.G. Arunkumar’s victory margin of 9,776 votes is fewer than the MNM candidate’s 23,527 and NTK candidate’s 17,897.
Similarly, in Coimbatore North, the AIADMK’s victory margin is fewer than the votes polled by MNM (26,503) and NTK (11,433). In Singanallur, which was more or less a triangular contest, the MNM candidate R. Mahendran had polled more than 50% of what the DMK candidate N. Karthik had polled – 70,390 votes or 34.84% of the votes polled.
Mr. Mahendran had secured 36,855 votes or 18.24%.
In Kinathukadavu, the DMK’s Kurichi Prabhakaran had polled 1,095 votes fewer than the AIADMK candidate. This was way fewer than the votes polled by the MNM and NTK candidates, who, together, had garnered 10.85% votes.
And, in Pollachi, AIADMK’s V. Jayaraman 1,725 vote lead over DMK candidate was less than what the MNM and NTK candidates had polled.
Commenting on the impact of MNM and NTK in Coimbatore, DMK Coimbatore east urban unit in-charge N. Karthik said the DMK could have easily won six seats but for the MNM and NTK as the anti-AIADMK votes had a three-way split.
Particularly, in Singanallur, the AIADMK candidate K.R. Jayaram led from the first round to the last round. And, the AIADMK candidate polled the maximum votes in 28 of the 33 rounds. He polled more votes than Mr. Jayaram and Mr. Mahendran in only five rounds.
Further, Mr. Karthik pointed out that Mr. Mahendran, who had contested the 2019 Parliamentary election in Coimbatore constituency, had polled 28,634 votes in the Singanallur Assembly segment and in two years, he had managed to increase his vote share to 36,855.
These were the anti-AIADMK votes that went to the MNM, and, thereby, led to his (Mr. Karthik) defeat, he added.
