Pongalur Palanisamy’s hopes dashed

Coimbatore: AIADMK candidate V P Kandasamy’s victory in the Sulur byelection has dashed nearest rival candidate and DMK heavyweight Pongalur N Palanisamy’s hopes of coming back to active politics.
Kandasamy won by a margin of 10,113 votes. He secured 1,00,782 votes while Palanisamy secured 90,669 cotes. Amma Makkal Munntera Kazhagam (AMMK) candidate K Sugumar secured 16,530 votes.
Kandasamy took a lead from the first round of counting of votes at the counting centre at Government College of Technology on Thadagam Road in the city on Thursday. Some time, the margin between AIADMK and DMK candidates was more than 800. However, AIADMK candidate maintained the lead till the final and 24th round of counting and grabbed the victory.
Palanisamy has lost despite former DMK union minister A Raja and former state minister EV Velu camping in Sulur and overseeing the campaign work.
Sulur assembly constituency was formed in 2009. It faced the first assembly election in 2011 in which DMDK candidate Thinakaran won. In 2016, AIADMK candidate R Kanagaraj won the election from Sulur assembly constituency. After the demise of Kanagaraj in March 2019, the ECI announced bypoll for Sulur assembly constituency.