With the third round of counting still showing him in the lead, a smiling TTV Dhinakaran addressed the press in Madurai on Sunday.
"Voters have decided to put an end to the anti-people government in Tamil Nadu. If you rewind your TV tapes you will know that whatever I have said is true," he told mediapersons.
"I thank the people of RK Nagar for giving us this victory on behalf of the people of TN. I am very happy, I thank the 1.5 crore cadre of my party. In another three months this government will fall. The attack in the counting centre was because of goons placed there by Madhusudhanan and AIADMK," he added.
Currently, the numbers show Dhinakaran at 15,868 votes, the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) is at 7,033 and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is third at 3,691.
"Wherever I go in Tamil Nadu, even up to the border of Kerala, people are confident that the pressure cooker (his election symbol) will win. They know that only we will be able to deliver," he said.
When someone remarked that an independent candidate is winning in RK Nagar for the first time, Dhinakaran began, "I told you before itself ...", but his supporters cut in, shouting that he was the real AIADMK. Dhinakaran just smiled in response.
"The victory of the two leaves symbol is contingent on the candidate ... The people from RK Nagar constituency are Amma's people and today they have decided who they want as their leader," he says.
The RK Nagar constituency witnessed a triangular contest between the AIADMK, DMK and Dhinakaran. The seat was left vacant after former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s death.
After Jayalalithaa passed away in December 2016, the bye-elections were supposed to take place in April this year. But widespread allegations of corruption ensured that the elections were postponed.
It finally took place on December 21.