Out of the 58 Assembly Constituencies in southern Tamil Nadu, the DMK had taken early leads in at least 35 segments, leaving the rest to the AIADMK, at the end of four hours of counting which started at around 8 a.m. on Sunday.
In the lone by-poll being held for the Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha seat, the Congress candidate Vasanth Vijay (son of late MP Vasanth Kumar) had established a lead of 10,000 votes against former Union Minister and senior BJP leader Pon Radhakrishnan.
In Dindigul district, among those who have established sizeable leads include I. Periasami (DMK) from Athur seat. The AIADMK was leading in Natham, where former Minister Natham R. Viswanathan is contesting and in Nilakottai segment. The DMK candidate I. P. Senthil Kumar has gained a lead in Palani, and the DMK was leading in Oddanchatram and Vedasandur seats.
In neighbouring Theni district, AIADMK party’s coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, seeking re-election from Bodinayakkanur segment is unable to make good leads as the DMK’s Thanga Tamilselvan is giving him a tough fight. At the end of round 4, Mr. Panneerselvam was 1,333 votes ahead. In Cumbum, the DMK candidate Ramakrishnan had established a good lead against AIADMK's Syed Khan.
In Madurai, out of the 10 Assembly Constituencies, AIADMK Ministers R. B. Udayakumar (Thirumangalam) and Sellur K. Raju (Madurai West) were leading against their DMK candidates, while PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan (DMK sitting MLA from Madurai Central), Pudur K Boominathan (Madurai South), G. Thalapathi (Madurai North) and Srinivasan (Sholvandan) were leading against their political rivals. In Madurai East, the DMK candidate P. Moorthy was leading and in Thiruparankundram segment, V V Rajan Chellappa was leading over his nearest CPI (M) rival Ponnuthai at the end of round 5.
In Virudhuagar district, former Minister Thangam Thennarasu of the DMK continued to widen his lead over the AIADMK candidate by over 16,000 votes at the end of round 6. In Sivakasi AC, G. Ashokan had established a slender margin over his AIADMK rival. In Srivilliputtur, the Congress candidate the late Madhava Rao, was trailing behind AIADMK candidate E M Manraj at the end of round 5.
In Thoothukudi district, AMMK’s T.T.V. Dhinakaran, contesting from Kovilpatti Assembly, the most keenly watched segment, was trailing behind AIADMK Minister Kadambur Raju. The CPI (M) candidate Srinivasan was in the third place at round 5. In Oddapidaram segment, Puthiya Tamilagam's founder K. Krishnasamy was in the third place by noon, when counting was still going on and DMK’s Shanmugiah was leading the score board. In Tiruchendur Anitha Radhakrishnan (DMK) was leading.
In Kanniyakumari district, the DMK and its allies had comfortable margins over their rivals in Colachel, Vilavancode, Padmanabhapuram and Valliyoor. In Nagercoil, it was a neck and neck race at the end of round 5.
In Tirunelveli district, BJP’s Nainar Nagendran had established a lead of 4,000 votes over his nearest rival.
In the neighbouring Tenkasi district, out of five seats, the DMK was leading in three, while the AIADMK had established leads in Vasudevanallur and Alangulam. The AIADMK Minister V M Rajalakshmi was trailing in Sankarankovil at the end of round 5.
In Ramanathapuram, Kadarbasha alias Muthuramalingam of DMK polled 29,472 votes against BJP’s Kuppuram who had polled 14,202 votes at end of round 8. In Paramakudi, DMK candidate H. Murugesan had polled 48,279 votes against S. Sathan Prabakar (AIADMK) who had 40,959 votes. Naam Tamilar Katchi's Sasikala had polled ,9428 votes here.
In Mudukalathur, DMK’s Raja Kannappan had polled 35,966 votes while AIADMK candidate Keerthika Muniasami had 34,614 votes at the end of round 12. In Tiruvadanai Assembly, Congress candidate R. M. Karumanickam had polled 41,494 votes while his rival K. C. Animuthu AIADMK had 33,601 votes at the end of round 16. Interestingly, the AMMK candidate V. T. Anand had polled 19,000 votes.
At the end of round 8 from four Assembly seats in Sivaganga district, the DMK had established a good lead in Tirupathur (K R Periakaruppan), Karaikudi (Congress Mangudi) and Manamadurai segment (Tamilarasi), while AIADMK’s Senthilnathan had established lead in Sivaganga seat.
