Thirumavalavan wins by a slender margin in Chidambaram

He scraped past by virtue of polling more postal ballots

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol Thirumavalavan won from the Chidambaram (reserved) Parliamentary constituency in a photo finish. The see-saw battle witnessed between Mr. Thirumavalavan and the AIADMK’s P. Chandrasekar during the counting of votes finally came to end in the early hours of Friday when the VCK leader was declared elected.

Mr. Thirumavalavan, who had polled 5,00,229 votes, won by a slender margin of 3,219 defeating Mr. Chandrasekar who had secured 4,97,010 votes.

It was a neck-and-neck race from the start with the two overtaking the other by a thin margin in the series of rounds. The counting of votes followed by random checks of VVPAT receipts went on till late hours triggering anxiety among supporters and cadre of both parties. The suspense finally came to an end in the early hours of Friday when the Dalit leader managed to pull off the victory.

Among all AIADMK candidates and those belonging to its allies who were routed in the general elections, it was only Mr. Chandrasekar who gave his opponent a run before losing by a very thin margin. Mr. Thirumavalavan got more postal votes than his rival.

The Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam candidate A. Elavarasan, who contested as an independent, polled 62,308 votes, while the Naam Tamilar Katchi nominee M. Sivajothi secured 37,741 votes. The Makkal Needhi Maiam candidate T. Ravi polled 15,334 votes. Although the three candidates lost their deposit, the combined votes polled by them was a little over 1.15 lakh which derailed the AIADMK's chance to retain the constituency.

The AIADMK had defeated the VCK leader in the 2014 general elections when it scripted a landslide victory across Tamil Nadu. The Ariyalur Collector and Returning Officer of the Chidambaram Constituency M. Vijayalakshmi handed over the certificate of election to Mr. Thirumavalavan at the counting centre in the early hours on Friday.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Thirumavalavan claimed that the ‘Sanadhana’ forces went all out to defeat him by pumping in crores of rupees. Mr. Thirumavalavan said his opponents had unleashed a negative campaign against him and it was smashed by the voters. Cadre of the DMK and its allies had worked hard to ensure his victory. “This is a victory of the people and truth,” he said.