Maragatham Kumaravel romps home in Madurantakam, this time on TVK ticket

TVK Madurantakam (SC) candidate Maragatham Kumaravel receiving the winning certificate on Friday. | Photo Credit: B. VELANKANNI RAJ

Maragatham Kumaravel, two-time AIADMK MLA from Madurantakam (SC), retained her seat, contesting this time on a TVK ticket, as the byelection result was declared on Friday. She defeated her nearest rival, I. Paranthamen of the DMK, by a margin of 20,040 votes. Mr. Paranthamen polled 54,008 votes, followed by S. Kanitha Sampath of the AIADMK with 47,450 votes.

The byelection was necessitated by Ms. Kumaravel’s resignation from the Assembly barely three weeks into her second term. She, along with three other AIADMK MLAs, resigned and joined the ruling TVK. Thereafter, two other AIADMK MLAs had resigned and switched over to the TVK. As counting progressed, Ms. Maragatham built up a gradual lead, working up a margin of at least a thousand votes at the end of every round. Halfway into the process, she already had a lead of well over 11,000 votes never looking back thereafter..

She received he winner’s certificate from Returning Officer K.R. Narendran, Revenue Divisional Officer, Madurantakam, late in the evening. Ms. Maragatham said she quit the AIADMK after she noticed certain elements colluding with the rival DMK after the general election results favoured the TVK. “This goes against the principles the party stood for. So, I left,” she told reporters. She felt the people have given a suitable answer to the “vicious campaign” launched against her by the two Dravidian parties surrounding her resignation.