The ruling Congress retained the Kamaraj Nagar Assembly seat with party candidate A. John Kumar winning the byelection by a margin of 7,170 votes on Thursday. Of the 24,310 votes polled in the constituency, Mr. Kumar secured 14,782 votes, while his nearest rival S. Bouvanesvarane of All India N. R. Congress received 7,612 votes. The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) candidate M. Praveena came a distant third polling 620 votes. As many as 426 voters preferred None of the Above (NOTA) option.
Makkal Munnetra Congress (MMC) candidate C. Vettriselvame could only get 343 votes. There were no postal ballots in the bypoll.
The byelection was necessitated after the then Speaker V. Vaithilingam resigned following his election to the Lok Sabha in May.
The Congress has not only retained the seat but also bettered its performance than in the last two Assembly elections. While Mr. Vaithilingam’s margin of victory in the 2011 and 2016 Assembly elections were 6,541 and 5,106 votes respectively, Mr. Kumar improved the margin to 7,170 votes.
The AINRC, which contested the byelection with the support of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Bharatiya Janata Party, could not get a lead in any of the 32 polling booths. The Congress candidate established substantial leads over AINRC candidate in several key booths at Fathima Higher Secondary School in Samipillai Thottam, Community Hall in Samipillai Thottam, Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalaya Higher Secondary School in Jegaraj Nagar, T. V Nagar Sports Club, Sathya Special School in Raibow Nagar, Selvanathan Reception Hall on Vellalar Salai, Tamizh Sangham and Regional Transport Office in Sarma. The result comes as major setback for the fledgling MMC founded by former Speaker P. Kannan with its candidate coming behind NTK.
