Nine TN Ministers defeated

Chennai, May 11 (UNI) As many as nine Cabinet colleagues of Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa bit the dust at the hustings in Tamil Nadu.

Even as Ms Jayalalithaa registered an impressive victory at Andipatti defeating her DMK rival Seeman by a margin of 25,186 votes, nine out of 20 Ministers, who were re-nominated, were defeated by the candidates of DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance.

While Animal Husbandry Minister P V Damodharan was conquested by his DMK rival S Mani by a slender margin of 53 votes in Pongalur, Industries Minister Nainar Nagendran lost by a margin of 500-odd votes to his DMK rival Malairaja in Tirunelveli.

Social Welfare Minister P Vijayalakshmi Palanisamy, Health Minister N Thalavai Sundaram, Rural Industries Minister B Valarmathi, Milk and Dairy Development Minister S Ramachandran, Handlooms and Textiles Minister V Somasundaram, Fisheries Minister M Radhakrishnan and Tourism Minister A Miller were the others, who lost in the battle of the ballot.

Among the 24 members in the Jayalalithaa Cabinet, Finance Minister C Ponnaiyan, Hindur Religious and Charitable Endowment Department P C Ramasamy, Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Inbathamizhan and Labour Minister P Annavi were not re-nominated.

UNI AKN KVV SK HS1852