Ooty: It was certainly a sweet revenge and a comeback with a bang for A.Raja, DMK candidate in the Nilgiris (SC) LS constituency as he romped home with a margin of over two lakh votes against M. Thiyagarajan (AIADMK) his nearest rival.
While the 2G spectrum issue kept him on a low profile in the 2014 elections when he lost badly to the then AIADMK candidate Dr. C. Gopalakrishnan in this constituency, these elections saw him regaining the constituency with a thunderous margin.
Mr. A. Raja (DMK) polled 5,47,832 votes and M. Thiyagarajan(AIADMK) could get only 3,42,009 votes. While N. Rajenthiran (MNM) could garner only 42,169 votes, M. Ramaswamy of the AMMK polled only 40,419 votes. Though ten candidates were in the fray in this constituency, except for Mr.Raja and Mr.Thiyagarajan, all others lost their deposit. 18,149 voters preferred “Nota”.
While Raja was leading in all six assembly segments within the Nilgiris (SC) constituency, he polled more votes in the three assembly segments attached to Nilgiris district than in the three assembly segments belonging to three neighbouring districts in the plains.
Though the DMK won these elections with a huge margin of 2,05,823 votes, the victory did not generate the expected joy as the Congress front failed in its attempt to capture power in New Delhi. For DMK cadres, this victory looked like “battle won and war lost” scenario. The victory celebrations by the DMK too were a low-key affair in the hills on counting day.
