CPI(M) retains Madurai East seat with lowest margin

Madurai, May 11 (UNI) It was the lowest victory margin in southern Tamil Nadu for CPI(M) which retained the Madurai East constituency with 52 votes.

In a cliffhanger, Marxist veteran N Nanmaran, seeking re-election from this seat, ensured the defeat of his MDMK rival M Boominathan only after postal ballots were counted.

The CPI(M) candidate secured 157 of the 208 postal ballots. After counting was over, Nanmaran polled 36384 votes while his rival obtained 36,332 votes.

A spartan, who has endeared himself to all, cutting across party lines, and remained accessible, the Marxist leader had won the seat last time also with a slender margin of over 5,000 votes.

As in many other places, the nominee of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam of filmstar Vijaykanth polled 18,652 votes, turning the contest this time into a neck-to-neck race between the two main players in the fray.

The CPI(M) has lost the suburban Thiruparankundram seat to the AIADMK. Here too the DMDK candidate Rajamanickam, who secured 39,573 votes had played spoilsport.

AIADMK' A K Bose won the seat by a margin of 11,601 votes. He secured 1,12,160 votes and trounced his Marxist rival S Venkatesan, who polled 1,00,559 votes.

UNI CR ROY MIR PM2142