RK Nagar election result highlights: TTV Dinakaran to debut in state assembly, defeats rival AIADMK by over 40,000 votes

RK Nagar election result LIVE UPDATES: In high stakes battles, AIADMK, sidelined party leader TTV Dinakaran won the RK Nagar seat on Sunday. (Express photo by Arun Janardhanan)

Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran, won the RK Nagar bye-election with a massive margin of over 40,000 votes to his nearest rival, AIADMK candidate E Madhusudhanan. Buoyed by the early trends, Dinakaran claimed victory in the bye-election. “We are the true AIADMK… people of RK Nagar have elected Amma’s successor,” he told reporters. Dinakaran’s election symbol is pressure cooker

RK Nagar assembly seat fell vacant following the demise of former AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The bypoll contest in Radhakrishnan Nagar is widely being perceived as an acid test for the AIADMK as this is the first election the party is contesting after the death of Jayalalithaa. A total of 59 candidates are vying for the bypoll assembly seat, including the BJP. But, primarily, the election is being seen as a direct contest between the AIADMK, DMK and TTV Dinakaran, who is fighting as an independent.

ALSO READ | RK Nagar election result LIVE UPDATES in Tamil

RK Nagar election result highlights:

9:20 pm: Thanks for joining us at the Indian Expres LIVE Blog. For more information and updates visit indianexpres.com.

8:45 pm: “The constant attacks by the AIADMK state government and the BJP government at the Centre helped Dinakaran in this historic victory, says Dinakaran’s propaganda leader and close aide, Nanjil Sampath.

8:00 pm: Dhinakaran is not new to electoral politics. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1999 from Periyakulam and to the Rajya Sabha in 2004.

7:03 pm: After securing historic victory from the RK Nagar seat TTV Dinakaran dedicated it to the people. The sidelined AIADMK leader said, “It’s a victory for all. This government will not be here for two more months. Two leaves symbol was a victory symbol when it was with amma. But now it’s with villains, how can they win.”

6:16 pm: DMK working President MK Stalin blamed the Election Commission for its defeat in the bye-election on RK Nagar seat.

6:03 pm: TTV Dhinakaran who is in Chenna stood at 89,013 votes, AIADMK’s E. Madhusudhanan received 48,306 votes while DMK’s N. Marudhu Ganesh got 24,651, BJP’s Karu Nagarajan could barely manage 1,417 votes at the end of counting. Dhinakaran wins by 40707 votes.

6:01 pm: Prospects of BJP are still dim in the state as NOTA trumped its candidate in today’s bye-election.

5:59 pm: The victory has cleared Dinakaran’s path to the state assembly. He had earlier expressed that the people of Tamil Nadu were readying for a regime change.

5:57 pm: People of RK Nagar constituency has spoken, since the seat belonged to Amma in the past, the resounding victory of Dinakaran will change the political spectrum in the state.

5:33 pm: Sidelined AIADMK leader and independent candidate TTV Dhinakaran wins RK Nagar bypoll.

5:14 pm: Taking an unassailable lead TTV Dinakaran is all set to win RK Nagar bypoll.

5:12 pm:  NOTA (None of The Above) pipped BJP candidate Karu Nagarajan, as 2,203 voters preferred it to the saffron party’s candidate who only received 1,236 votes.

5:10 pm: At the end of the 16th round of counting, Dhinakaran bagged 76,701 votes out of the 1,53,201 valid votes so far, while AIADMK veteran Madhusudhanan got 41,526.

5:09 pm: The margin of 35,175 votes between the two candidates took Dhinakaran closer to victory, brightening his prospects of making his debut in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

4:40 pm: Rival AIADMK leader and independent candidate T T V Dhinakaran gets 72,413 votes at the end of the 15th round of counting of votes for RK Nagar bypoll. AIADMK’s E Madhusudanan gets 38,966 votes. N Maruthu Ganesh of DMK gets 20,388 votes.

4.20 pm: It is highly unlikely that the AIADMK will stage a late upset in the contest as Dinakaran appears to be in no mood of letting his lead slip. After 14 rounds of counting, here is what the election trends say: TTV Dhinakaran 68,392 votes, AIADMK’s E. Madhusudhanan 36,217 votes, DMK’s N Marudhu Ganesh 18,924 votes and BJP’s Karu Nagarajan 1,126 votes.

4.00 pm: AIADMK candidate E Madhusudhanan will retain his election deposit of Rs 10,000 as he has polled at least one-sixth of the total valid votes. After 12 rounds of polling, TTV Dhinakaran has tripled his lead over AIADMK with 60,284 votes.

# AIADMK — 30,745
# DMK — 15918
# NOTA — 1537
# BJP — 837

3.30 pm: Rival AIADMK leader and independent candidate T T V Dhinakaran gets 54,315 votes at the end of 11th round of counting of votes for RK Nagar bypoll. AIADMK’s E Madhusudanan gets 27,937 votes. N Maruthu Ganesh of DMK gets 14,481 votes.

3.00 pm: After ten rounds of counting, TTV Dhinakaran continues to lead the contest with 48,808 total votes, while AIADMK’s E Madhusudhanan is trailing with 25,567 votes. DMK’s N Marudhu Ganesh is in third with 13,015 votes.

2.30 pm: TTV Dinakaran pays floral tribute to late AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran on his 30th death anniversary at MGR memorial in Marina Beach.

1.40 pm: No sign of AIADMK making a late comeback in this bypoll as Dinakaran stretches his lead to over 20,000 votes.

# TTV — 39,548 votes
# AIADMK — 19,525 votes
# DMK– 10,292 votes

1.20 pm: It appears that Dinakaran is running away with this election, the latest trends show that he has stretched his lead to over 15,000 votes.

# TTV Dinakaran — 34,346 votes
# AIADMK — 17,471 votes
# DMK — 9,206 votes

1.10 pm: After the first 6 rounds of counting in RK Nagar bypoll, the BJP candidate (485 votes) has got fewer votes than NOTA (798 votes). Meanwhile, TTV Dinakaran is in the lead with 29,255 votes.

12.40 pm: After five rounds of counting, TTV Dhinakaran is still in the lead with 24132 votes, AIADMKs E. Madhusudhanan is second with 13057 votes and DMK’s N. Marudhu Ganesh is third with 6606 votes.

12.30 pm: It appears the 2G spectrum verdict had no impact on the RK Nagar bypoll. Though the verdict was a shot in the arm for the DMK,  the party has so far polled a little over 5,000 votes in the first three rounds of counting.

11.50 am: Dinakaran extends lead to over 10,000 votes. Here are the trends at 11.30 am:  TTV Dinakara — 20,298 votes, AIADMK — 9,672, DMK — 5091.

11.40 am: Buoyed by the early trends giving him a clear lead, Dinakaran told reporters: “We are the true AIADMK… people of RK Nagar have elected Amma’s successor.”

He said that people wanted a change of regime and ensured him they would vote for him in RK Nagar. “During my recent visits to various parts of Tamil Nadu such as Avinashi (Tirupur) and Arumanai (Kanyakumari), people said the pressure cooker (his poll symbol at RK Nagar) will win. They want a change of this regime,”

On the Election Commission’s decision to hand over the two leaves party symbol to the AIADMK, Dinakaran said: “We are the true AIADMK. A candidate determines the symbol. I have already said the ‘Two Leaves’ will be a success symbol only if it was with Puratchi Thalaivar (MGR) and Amma (Jayalalithaa). Will the people vote if it is handed over to MN Nambiar and PS Veerappa?”

11.30 am:Counting is also underway for seats in Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal and West Bengal. Click here to READ MORE.

11.00 am: Dinakaran is still in the lead after round two of voting. The mood outside his residence is quite upbeat. Supporters have begun distributing sweets. Here are the numbers: TTV Dinakaran — 15868 votes, AIADMK — 7033, and DMK — 3750.

10.10 am: TTV Dinakaran has established a firm lead of over 5000 votes over his rivals. AIADMK is lagging in second with 4520 votes and DMK is in third with 2323. The BJP, it appears is nowhere where in the contest.

10.00 am: It is still early days, but Dinakaran supporters have already kickstarted the celebrations. Only two rounds have been completed in this 18 round contest.

Dinakaran supporters celebrate outside his residence. (Source: ANI)

9.50 am:  After the brief interruption, the Election Commission said that counting has resumed. Meanwhile, additional police force is being deployed in light of the violence inside the counting station.

“Police restored peace. Nothing alarming. Compilation of second round going on,” an EC official said.

9.40 am: Counting has been stopped after ruckus inside the counting station in Chennai’s Queen Mary’s College. AIADMK members allegedly slapped TTV Dinakaran’s supporters. Police accused of remaining mute spectators. Dinakaran was leading the contest with 7276 votes.

As TTV was leading with 7276 votes, counting stopped, TTV men slapped by AIADMK people inside the counting station, police being blamed for being mute spectators for sometime, force being deployed now

9.30 am: Exit polls had earlier called this election in favour of TTV Dinakaran. Unfazed by the predictions, both AIADMK and DMK, however, have
expressed confidence that they would win the seat.

9.20 am:  As many as 200 officials drawn from both Central and State government services have been deputed for the exercise. Tight security is in place with state and Central Armed Police Forces personnel providing multi-layered security, reports PTI.

9.10 am: In the subsequent rounds of counting, it appears the AIADMK has managed to slash Dinakaran’s early lead to a slender margin of over 600 votes.

Here are the numbers: TTV Dinakaran — 5399 votes, AIADMK — 2737 votes, DMK — 181 votes.

9.00 am: After round one, TTV Dinakaran is in the lead with 1891 votes, AIADMK is trailing in second with 646 votes and DMK is third with 360 votes.

8:45 am: TTV Dinakaran supporters already started celebrations at his residence near Besant Nagar beach.

8:30 am: In the first round,  TTV Dinakaran leading by 412 votes.

07:31 am: “Apart from BJP other parties that contested used corrupt practices and distributed money in a big way,” says Karu Nagarajan, BJP candidate from RK Nagar outside a vote counting center in Chennai.

Karu Nagarajan, BJP candidate from RK Nagar.