Testing his electoral fortunes in Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency, the Congress candidate Karti P. Chidambaram has established an unassailable lead of 1,49,326 votes after ten rounds of counting as the counting of votes polled on April 18 was in progress at the Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology on Thursday.
At the end of the ten rounds, Mr. Karti who was polled 2,58,948 votes and set to defeat his nearest BJP nominee, the party’s national secretary H. Raja, who was polled 1,09,622 votes. The AMMK candidate Therpogi Pandi was trailing behind with 56,716 votes.
Mr. Karti, son of senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P. Chidambaram, who represented the constituency for record seven terms, including five terms in a row since 1984, was leading right from round one. He is all set to defeat his nearest BJP rival and wrest the seat from the AIADMK if the present trend was an indication.
Mr. Karti has entered the fray for the second time after unsuccessfully contesting from the constituency in the 2014 elections. Mr. Raja too had unsuccessfully contested from the constituency in the 2014 elections. He was polled 1,33,763 votes and pushed Mr. Karti to the fourth place.
In Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency, Mr. Navas Kani, nominee of Indian Union Muslim League, an ally of the DMK, has established a lead of 62,820 votes over his nearest BJP rival – former AIADMK Minister and BJP State vice-president Nainar Nagendran at the end of ninth round. Mr. Kani was polled 1,90,062 votes, while Mr. Nagendran was polled 1,27,242 votes. AMMK candidate V.D.N Anand was trailing with 52,390 votes.
The ruling AIADMK candidates have established leads both in Paramakudi and Manamadurai Assembly byelections. AIADMK nominee Sathan Prabhakar has established a lead of 4,416 votes after polling 26,256 votes in Paramakudi over his nearest DMK rival Sampathkumar, who was polled 21,840 votes after the end of seven rounds.
In Manamadurai in Sivaganga district, AIADMK candidate Nagarajan was polled 36,420 and established a lead of 9,519 votes over his nearest DMK rival Ilakkiyadasan, who was polled 26,901 votes. The AIADMK set to retain the two seats. Byelections were caused to the two constituencies after the disqualification of the MLAs, who sided with T.T.V Dhinakaran.
