CHENNAI: In Chennai’s Royapuram constituency, an auto driver handed TVK a coveted win, defeating former AIADMK minister D Jayakumar and the son of former minister Rahman Khan, A Subair Khan of DMK.

Vijay Damu, a district secretary of TVK, secured 59,091 votes, about 14,000 votes more than the runner-up DMK candidate. Damu’s gesture of falling at Vijay’s feet and hugging after his surprise candidature drew attention on social media. He called himself a “normal auto driver”, but on May 4, Damu prevailed over two strongmen. In a similar story, TVK’s R Prakasam alias Kutty, a loadvan driver, became the Poonamallee MLA 1,61,309 votes, with a whopping 72,740 margin over DMK’s Krishnaswamy A.