AIADMK’s number up in House after hat-trick

AIADMK, on a roll since 2011 winning back-to-back state elections and sweeping the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, wrested the Aravakkurichi seat from DMK and retained Thanjavur and Tiruparankundram by margins ranging from more than 20,000 votes to 42,000, dealing a blow to the Dravidian arch rivals DMK. In Aravakurichi and Thanjavur, the elections were held after being cancelled during the May Assembly polls due to alleged corrupt practices, while a by-poll was held in Tiruparankundram to fill a vacancy caused by the death of an AIADMK member. With Tuesday’s outcome, AIADMK’s tally in the 234-member Assembly has risen to 136. 

M Karunanidhi-led DMK had to be content with the runners-up position. AIADMK garnered an impressive vote share of about 55 per cent, while DMK could manage only 37.8 per cent. BJP, which finished third in all the three segments, secured a vote share of 2.5 per cent. PMK contested in Thanjavur and Aravakurichi alone and did not field candidate in Tiruparankundram and got 0.3 per cent votes. Actor-turned politician Vijayakant’s DMDK could bag a vote share of just 1.3 per cent. In Aravakurichi, AIADMK’s V Senthil Balaji, a former minister, trounced his nearest DMK rival KC Palanisamy by a margin of 23,661 votes. 

Balaji secured 88,068 votes while Palanisamy 64,407 votes. In Thanjavur, AIADMK nominee M Rengasamy retained the seat by a margin of 26,874 votes. He polled 1,01,362 votes. DMK’s Anjugham Boopathy got 74,488 out of the total 1,86,444 votes. In Tiruparankundram, AIADMK candidate AK Bose trounced his nearest DMK rival P Saravanan by an impressive margin of 42,670 votes.