TN bypolls throw up no surprises, ruling AIADMK secure all three seats

There seems to be no change in fortunes for the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu as they emerged victorious in all the three assembly constituencies in the by-polls. With this the number of AIADMK MLAs will rise to 136 and the number of DMK-led alliance MLAs remain at 98 (DMK-89, Congress-8, IUML-1). By-polls were held in the three seats on November 19. All the three constituencies saw the two Dravidian majors fight for the seats.  As soon as counting started on Tuesday morning, AIADMK's M Rengasamy was leading in Thanjavur. It was no different in Thirupparankundram and Aravakkurichi where AK Bose and V Senthil Balaji enjoyed a comfortable lead after several rounds of counting. At the end of counting AIADMK’s Rengasamy won the Thanjavur seat by a margin close to 27, 000 votes. In Aravakuruchi, Senthil Balaji also secured a victory by edging past his DMK rival by more than 20, 000 votes after 12 rounds of counting and AK Bose had a margin of 34,345 votes at Thirupparankundram after 18 rounds of counting. In the May 19 state elections, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa-led Dravidian outfit secured 134 seats and arch-rival DMK-led combine secured 98 seats. The Election Commission had postponed polling in the two seats of Thanjavur and Aravakurichi following large scale seizures of cash, liquor, silver and other articles. Repolling was held in Thiruparankundram as sitting AIADMK MLA SM Seenivel passed away in May, soon after he was elected. In neighbouring Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy won from Nellithope constituency beating his AIADMK contestant by a margin of over 11, 000 votes.