Madurai Central, North Assembly segments did more damage to AIADMK

AMMK factor was significant only in Melur

MADURAI

Though Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s Su. Venkatesan secured more votes than AIADMK’s V.V.R. Raj Satyen in all the six Assembly segments of Madurai Lok Sabha constituency, the difference in vote share was maximum in Madurai Central and North Assembly segments.

CPI (M)’s impressive performance in Madurai Central with a difference in vote share of 21.1% was expected since the urban constituency is held by P. T. R. Palanivel Thiagarajan of the DMK.

However, AIADMK’s particularly poor performance in Madurai North, which includes some rural areas, has come as a surprise since the MLA of the constituency is Mr. Raj Satyen’s father V. V. Rajan Chellappa.

Of the 1,50,541 votes polled, CPI (M) secured 70,866, while AIADMK managed only 41,958. The difference of 28,908 votes amounted to a difference in vote share of a whopping 19.2% in this Assembly segment.

The difference between the two candidates was the lowest in Madurai South constituency with CPI (M) leading AIADMK by just 423 votes. The presence of a significant percentage of voters belonging to Sourashtra community, which is believed to be largely supporting BJP, appeared to have made the constituency stand out.

The possibility of AMMK eating into AIADMK’s vote share did not prove to be a contributing factor for the latter’s loss, except in Melur. While Mr. Venkatesan secured 14,831 votes more than Mr. Raj Satyen in this Assembly segment, the votes secured by AMMK’s K. David Annadurai in Melur were 31,278.

In Madurai South, where the difference between CPI (M) and AIADMK was 423 votes, AMMK secured 7,871 votes. In the remaining four Assembly segments of Madurai East, Madurai West, Madurai North and Madurai Central, the votes secured by AMMK were less than the difference between CPI (M) and AIADMK.

CPI (M) secured significantly more votes than AIADMK in Madurai West as well, where the present MLA is Cooperation Minister ‘Sellur’ K. Raju of AIADMK.

Interestingly, Makkal Needhi Maiam managed to secure more votes than AMMK in Madurai West, Madurai Central, Madurai South and Madurai North. The party’s prospect of finishing third was undone by its poor performance in Melur, where it managed just 1,958 votes.

In contrast, it polled 14,500 to 18,000 votes in each of the remaining five segments.