In the Lok Sabha elections in Salem, the elected Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate S.R. Parthibhan managed to gain over 48% of the polled votes in Salem constituency despite it being Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s home turf.
Of the total 12,56,330 votes polled in Salem, the DMK-led alliance candidate, S. R. Parthibhan, polled 6,06,302 votes including postal ballots and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s K.R.S. Saravanan polled 4,59,376 votes. The winning candidate had a margin of 1,46,926 votes. Like most other constituencies in the State, Mr. Parthibhan had a decisive lead since the beginning during counting and he gained more than half of the postal votes.
Of the 6,575 postal votes, Mr. Parthibhan got 3,849 votes while Mr. Saravanan received only 1,258 votes. For various reasons, 871 postal ballots were rejected and 132 postal votes were for NOTA. The Makkal Needhi Maiam, which faced its first elections, managed to finish third in the constituency. MNM candidate M.Prabhu Manikandan polled 58,662 votes while Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam candidate S.K. Selvam managed to get only 52,332 votes.
As many as 17,130 voters went for NOTA in the constituency.
BJP cadre celebrate victory
Cadre of the Bharatiya Janata Party celebrated the party’s nationwide victory in the Lok Sabha elections at the district office here on Thursday.
They burst firecrackers in front of the party office at Maravaneri here and distributed sweets to the public. They also took out a vehicle rally here.