BIG LOSERS

The results declared on Sunday left a few of the leaders from all parties with a bitter note, especially for some who expected to win or at least put up a spirited fight:

KC Veeramani, Jolorpet

The margin was small, but for Commercial Taxes Minister KC Veeramani, the loss to DMK’s K Devaraji by 906 votes from Jolorpet still means he won’t return to the Assembly this time after two consecutive victories. Sources said there are not many who are lamenting his defeat because there were complaints about his functioning. He did not allow a second line of leadership to come up, going as far as ensuring that his cabinet colleague, Nilofer Kafeel, was not given a ticket this time, said a party senior from the district. His detractors even alleged that Devaraji, a greenhorn, was fielded against him as part of the deal with DMK leaders here, which, however, did not help in the end.

Premalatha Vijayakant, Vridhachalam

DMDK Treasurer Premalatha Vijayakant, who was expected to win in her maiden election, lost in Vridhachalam constituency by a big margin. Six elections after DMDK was founded, Premalatha decided to contest in Vridhachalam in 2021 election, in the same constituency from where her husband and DMDK founder Vijayakant contested in 2006. After Vijayakant, DMDK had once again contested in Vridhachalam and has won in 2011. Vridhachalam constituency was considered a strong fort of DMDK. A tough three-way contest with Premalatha winning was expected but she finished third, behind Congress and PMK candidates. Premalatha secured only 16,823 votes against Vijayakant’s 61,337 votes in 2006. She lost the deposit amount.

Seeman, Tiruvottiyur

Naam Tamilar Katchi leader Seeman, who contested in his second assembly election, garnered close to 45,000 votes in Tiruvottiyur constituency but finished third after DMK and AIADMK candidates. Seeman got 42,407 votes in Thiruvottiyur and was behind AIADMK candidate Kuppan by a slender margin of 1,800. Seeman obtained more than 20 per cent of the votes polled in the constituency, more than any other NTK candidate in the State. He, for the first time, contested in 2016 election from Cuddalore, where he obtained only 12,497 votes without aligning with any political party. Seeman contested alone in this election too but obtained more than 300 per cent of votes compared to the previous election.

TTV Dhinakaran, Kovilpatti

It was considered to be a clever move when AMMK general secretary TTV Dhinakaran announced his candidature from Kovilpatti Assembly constituency, taking on Minister Kadambur C Raju. He also had tailwinds provided by the massive victory in the three-cornered bypoll from RK Nagar in Chennai that was left vacant after the death of chief minister J Jayalalithaa. However, not only did he lose to Raju, a two-time MLA from Kovilpatti, the defeat was not even as close as it looked in the initial rounds of counting – Raju secured 68,556 votes to Dhinakaran’s 56,153, a margin of 12,403 votes.

Kamal Haasan, Coimbatore South

Actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam president Kamal Haasan lost the Coimbatore South Assembly seat by a narrow margin of 1,439 votes to BJP’s women wing’s national head Vanathi Srinivasan in a tough three-cornered contest. Initially tipped to be a two-cornered fight between Haasan and Vanathi, there was a seesaw battle between the actor and Congress candidate Mayura Jayakumar in the earlier trends. Vanathi took the first lead in the 23rd round and emerged victorious at the end of the 26th round. It will be a big disappointment to the supporters of the MNM as Haasan had spent a considerable amount of time campaigning for himself there. Moreover, the MNM-led alliance failed to win even a single seat in the polls.

D Jayakumar, Royapuram

Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar lost in his stronghold Royapuram constituency to DMK candidate and businessman IDream R Murthy with a margin of 19,082 votes. Jayakumar has been contesting from Royapuram since 1991 and has been victorious five times. He was contesting for the seventh consecutive time from Royapuram. He won in 1991 and then in 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016. He contested in 1996, too, but lost to the DMK candidate. R Murthy, aka IDream Murthy, is yet another maiden contestant, representing DMK. The proprietor of IDream cinemas in Royapuram, Murthy has been associated with the DMK for many decades now.

Khushbu Sundar, Thousand Lights

Actor-politician Khushbu Sundar, who made her electoral debut for the BJP against DMK’s newbie Ezhilan N at Thousand Lights constituency lost by more than 30,000 votes until reports last came in. Khushbu, who was the most prominent face of the BJP in the city, was expected to pull off a win or at least put up a spirited fight. Her aggressive campaign and her reported ability to connect with women voters were touted to be the plus points, as was her constant engagement on social media. However, none of this seemed to have mattered in the end as Thousand Lights, a DMK bastion until recently, decided to retain their loyalty with the Dravidian party.