The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-Congress combine has made a clean sweep in Tamil Nadu when BJP fails to make its mark in the state.
Counting has been completed in the Thoothukkudi constituency and DMK’s Kanmozhi Karunanidhi has become the first victor.
The exit polls had predicted that BJP may win 1-3 seats and today, BJP was leading in one constituency. However, the three-way race turned in the favour of the INDIA bloc.
In Coimbatore, BJP state president K Annamalai was trailing against DMK’s Ganapathy Rajkumar. In South Chennai, BJP’s Tamilisai Soundararajan was trailing against DMK’s Tamizachi Thangapandian.
Tamil Nadu recorded a voter turnout of 72.09% in the Lok Sabha polls held in a single phase on April 19.
Dayanidhi Maran, the DMK candidate, has nearly 1,31,0000 votes for the Central Chennai parliamentary seat, whereas Vinoj, the BJP contender, got just 62,493 votes. DMDK contender Parthasarathy got 22,844 votes, placing him in third place.
Key seats where DMK was expecting a fight from the BJP and AIADMK - Vellore, Tirunelveli, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore, Kallakurichi, Villupuram - fared well for the party and DMK candidates are leading comfortably.
In Vellore, DMK's D.M. Kathir Anand is leading with 170564 votes, while A.C. Shanmugam of BJP lags with 40136 votes. Congress candidate Robert Bruce is leading in Tirunelveli with 197636 votes. Nainar Nagenthran from BJP is in second place with 137087 votes. In Theni, Thanga Tamilselvan from DMK is currently in the lead with 185946 votes. In Ramanathapuram, Navaskani K. from IUML is currently in the lead with 179111 votes. In Coimbatore, DMK's Ganapati Rajkumar is leading with 53,580.
The DMK-led alliance comprises the Congress, Left parties, Dalit groups, and minority parties.