The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party, seem headed for a severe drubbing with their candidates trailing the Dravida Munnetera Kazhagam-led Democratic Progressive Alliance candidates by substantial margins in all the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone Pondicherry parliamentary seat.
Riding high on the anti-incumbency factor, most of the DPA candidates had already established winning margins.
In Sivaganga, former Union minister P Chidambaram led his nearest rival Subba Karpiah (AIADMK) by about one lakh votes, while satellite TV tycoon Dayanidhi Maran (DMK) was leading by a massive 72,000 votes in Madras Central. Former minister K V Thankabalu (Congress) had established a lead of 45,000 votes in Salem.
At Nilgiris, former Union minister R Prabhu (Congress) led over his nearest BJP rival Master Mathan by 56000 votes.Another former Union minister T R Baalu was leading by 15,000 votes at Madras South.
Former Union minister A K Moorthy (Pattali Makkal Katchi) was leading by over 40,000 votes in Chengalpattu and E Ponnuswamy (PMK) was ahead by 10,000 votes at Chidamabram. At Vandavasi, former Union minister, Senjee Ramachandran (Marumalarchi DMK) was ahead by 20,000 votes. Dr Subramanian Swamy, Janata Party president, was pushed to third place at Madurai, where P Mohan (Communist Party of India-Marxist) was ahead by over 40,000 votes. At Gopichettipalayam, former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president, E V K S Elangovan, led over his AIADMK rival N R Govindarajar by 65,000 votes.
Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan was trailing by over 45,000 votes at Nagercoil, and AIADMK strongman T T V Dinakaran was also behind by 4000 votes in Periyakulam.
© 2024 Rediff.com -