CPM all set to win kovai

Coimbatore: The CPI(M) is all set to recapture the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat, belying expectations of this constituency being a sure winner for the BJP as part of the AIADMK led alliance, with counting of votes taken up on Thursday. The constituency comprises assembly seg-ments of Coimbatore North, Coimbatore South, Kaundampalayam, Singanallur, Sulur and Palladam.

The Marxist candidate, P R Natarajan, polled 5,70,167 votes at the end of 29 rounds of counting. Lagging behind him was BJP's candidate C. P. Radhakrishnan with 3,91,339 votes at the time of filing this report. Even prior to the results being declared, celebrations began at the DMK office and the CPI(M) office here.

While the BJP office located on Avinashi Road had a little over two dozen party loyalists who were glued to the television screen following the election results live, the DMK and CPI(M) cadres were in celebration mood.

Accepting defeat here, one of the BJP members said, "When our government was in power, our party was often questioned what had we done for the state with 37 MPs. It is for us to wait and watch what the DMK will do now." Another BJP worker said, "The people of Tamil Nadu have not accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi." Meanwhile, a majority of CPI(M) and DMK party members were confident of victory and began celebrating by bursting crackers and distributing sweets to the public.