The Villupuram district has gone the way the rest of Tamil Nadu did in the Assembly elections, upsetting the calculations of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led front.
Of 11 Assembly segments in the district, 10 returned candidates of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance.
The only consolation for the DMK-led front is that Pattali Makkal Katchi candidate A. Ganesh Kumar scraped through, defeating Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam candidate R. Sivalingam with a margin of 1,811 votes in the Ginjee constituency.
While the AIADMK candidates have won seats, including Villupuram, Vanur (Reserve), Tindivanam (Reserve), Kallakurichi (Reserve), Mayilam, Ulundurpet and Sankarapuram, the DMDK candidates have tasted victory at Rishivandhiyam and Thirukkoilur, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate R. Ramamurthy at Vikkiravandi.
What has confounded the DMK camp is that C.Ve. Shanmugham of the AIADMK, a native of Tindivanam, has unseated Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy on his home turf of Villupuram by a margin of 12,097 votes.
The DMDK too has become a major beneficiary of the tie-up with the AIADMK as its founder leader Vijayakant has won the Rishvandhiyam constituency, trouncing S.Sivaraj of the Congress, a four-time MLA, with a margin of 30,975 votes.
