The DMK has significantly increased its voter base in Madurai district by winning five out of the 10 Assembly constituencies in the district.
In the 2016 Assembly elections, the AIADMK won eight of the 10 constituencies. After the Tirupparankundram by-elections in 2019, the DMK’s tally increased to three constituencies in the district. The results declared on Sunday had shown that the DMK has changed the perception that Madurai district is an AIADMK stronghold.
In all the five constituencies that the DMK alliance had won - Sholavandan, Madurai Central, Madurai North, Madurai East and Madurai South - the candidates had won with a comfortable margin of votes.
In Madurai East constituency, DMK’s candidate P. Moorthy had a landslide victory with a margin of 49,604 votes. He defeated AIADMK candidate R. Gopalakrishnan by securing 51.59% of votes to continue his second term in the constituency.
DMK candidate P.T.R.P. Thiagarajan had a huge victory in Madurai Central constituency to retain his seat. He defeated N. Jothi Muthuramalingam, the AIADMK alliance candidate, by a huge margin of 33,915 votes.
While the initial rounds of counting in Madurai North constituency showed a tough contest between DMK’s G. Thalapathi and BJP’s P. Saravanan, in the end Mr. Thalapathi won the seat by securing 46.54% of votes. Mr. Saravanan, who was previously the DMK MLA for Tirupparankundram, shifted to BJP after the DMK denied him a ticket for the Assembly elections. Mr. Saravanan was given the ticket to contest in Madurai North constituency by the BJP within a few hours of joining the party.
In Madurai South constituency, M. Boominathan of the MDMK - an ally of the DMK - won by defeating AIADMK’s S.S. Saravanan, who was the incumbent MLA, by a comfortable margin of votes.
In Sholavandan (Reserved) constituency, A. Venkatesan of the DMK defeated incumbent AIADMK MLA K. Manickam.
AIADMK gains
Former Cooperation Minister Sellur K. Raju won in Madurai West assembly constituency by securing 41.50% votes. He defeated DMK’s C. Chinnammmal to become the MLA of Madurai West constituency for the third consecutive time. Initially, the margin between the candidates was slender. But as counting process continued, Mr. Raju polled more votes.
In the Melur constituency, AIADMK'S Periyapullan alias P. Selvam won by securing 45.59% of votes. Indian National Congress’s T. Ravichandran secured the second position. In Melur, A. Selvaraj of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam polled a significant number of votes to secure the third place.
Former Revenue Minister R.B. Udhayakumar won in Tirumangalam constituency. Initially, the vote difference between Mr. Udhayakumar and DMK's M. Manimaran was very minimal. But, as the counting progressed, Mr. Udhayakumar won the seat for the second consecutive time. For around two hours voting was suspended for Tirumangalam constituency as agents pointed out that two EVMs had the same number. The confusion was cleared after the intervention of Collector T. Anbalagan.
V.V. Rajan Chellappa, the former MLA of Madurai North constituency, had a comfortable win in Tirupparankundram. He defeated Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate Ponnuthai by a huge margin of votes.
In a major surprise, AIADMK’S P. Ayyappan won Usilampatti by a comfortable margin, though it was anticipated that he had a tough contest with DMK’s alliance candidate P.V. Kathiravan and AMMK candidate I. Mahendran. There was a close fight for the second and third position. in the end Mr. kathiravan secured the second position.