Massive Victory For Jayalalithaa In RK Nagar Constituency; Congress Retains AruvikkaraIin Kerala
30 June, Chennai
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa has won the Chennai RK Nagar Assembly by-election by a huge margin.
She defeated her nearest rival CPI candidate C. Mahendran by One Lakh-Fifty One Thousand – Two Hundred and Fifty Two Votes as the counting of votes polled in the June 27 by-poll concluded this afternoon at Queen Mary’s College in Chennai.
It is a sweeping victory for the chief minister J. Jayalalithaa in the byelection in Chennai RK Nagar Assembly constituency.
Except her, all the other contestants including the main opponent C.Mahendran of the CPI lost their deposits.
It was a heavily lopsided contest right from the beginning with all the main opposition parties including the arch rival DMK shying away from fielding their candidates.
Tamil Nadu has the distinction of selecting the ruling party candidates in all the byelections since the recent past.
As the prominent candidate in this bypoll has been none other than the chief minister herself, it is no wonder the winning margin is phenomenal.
Ms Jayalalithaa takes oath as MLA this evening in the secretariat before the speaker of the assembly.
In Kerala, Congress candidate K.S. Sabarinathan has won the Aruvikkara Bye-election by a margin of 10,128 votes. Sabarinathan received 56,448 votes while CPI(M) candidate M. Vijayakumar secured 46,320 votes. BJP candidate and former Union Minister O.Rajagopal secured 34,145 votes, which is a notable achievement for the Saffron Party.
The Bye-election was necessitated following the demise of sitting Congress MLA and Kerala Assembly Speaker G.Karthikeyan. Sabarinathan is the son of late G. Karthikeyan. Political Parties in the State had given great significance to the Aruvikkara Bye-election as Panchayat elections are due in October this year and Assembly polls are to be held in May, next year.
The Bye-election victory is a morale booster for the Congress led UDF Government in Kerala. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had declared that the Bye-election will be a referrendum on the performance of his Government during the past four years.
The result has enabled Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to tighten his grip within the party and the Government with no challengers.