AIADMK retains dominance, bags 9 out of 10 seats in dist

Coimbatore: AIADMK won big in Coimbatore, bagging nine out of the 10 assembly constituencies in the district.
Party strongman S P Velumani registered an impressive victory against his principal opponent DMK’s Karthikeya Sivasenapathy. Despite Sivasenapathy posing a tough challenge, Velumani secured 1,23,538 votes, which was 41,709 votes more than the runner-up. Sivasenapathy polled 81,829 votes.
In Valparai, one of the first constituencies where results were declared, AIADMK candidate T K Amul Kandasami defeated his rival DMK candidate by scoring 70,957 votes. Valparai, along with constituencies like Kavundampalayam, were surprise wins for AIADMK as several predictions had suggested that the segments were favourable for DMK.
Pollachi also was a surprise win for former deputy assembly speaker Pollachi V Jayaraman, though the victory could be achieved only with a thin margin. DMK had fielded K Varadharajan against Jayaraman, who got 77,650 votes, about 2,000 less than Jayaraman. Inspite of DMK mounting a scathing attack on Jayaraman by bringing up the Pollachi sex scandal, AIADMK managed to win the seat. In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, AIADMK was defeated in the segment.
For the third time, DMK failed in its effort to make inroads into Coimbatore. The last time DMK won several seats in Coimbatore was in 2006.
Coimbatore North was yet another constituency where AIADMK had a tough challenge because AIADMK candidate Amman K Arjunan was from the neighbouring constituency while DMK candidate V M Shanmugasundaram was from Vadavalli locality. But Arjunan won the seat.
One of the biggest disappointments for DMK was in Singanallur, where incumbent MLA N Karthik was fielded again. Though he had won the segment in 2016 despite a statewide defeat for DMK, this time, Karthik had to taste defeat. Lesser-known K R Jayaram, fielded by AIADMK, defeated Karthik as well as MNM vice-president R Mahendran.
In Kavundampalayam, the odds were stacked against AIADMK. P R G Arun Kumar was considered an outsider in the segment, while Payya Gounder alias Krishnan was a native of the constituency. However, he polled about 10,000 votes more than Gounder.
In Mettupalayam and Sulur also, the DMK front suffered a drubbing. Mettupalayam AIADMK candidate A K Selvaraj won the seat by securing 1,04,632 votes, while his opponent DMK candidate T R Shanmugasundaram secured 1,01,451 votes.
Incumbent AIADMK MLA V P Kandasamy won the Sulur assembly seat for the second consecutive time by securing 1,17,509 votes. His opponent Premier Selvam of KMDK secured 85,403 votes.