Three manage to scrape through with thin margin

Chennai, May 11 (UNI) At least three candidates have scrapped through by wafer-thin margins in the May eight Assembly polls.

INTUC nominee earned the dubious distinction of winning by the lowest margin of just 14 votes from Singanallur in Coimbatore district, defeating veteran trade Unionist A Soundararajan of CPI(M).

In Madurai East, Mr Nanmaran of the CPI(M) won by a margin of 52 votes defeating M Bhoominathan of the MDMK.

In Anaicut in Vellore district, Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister K Pandurangan led by 53 votes against his PMK rival Mrs Varalaskhmi.

However, the results were referred to the Election Commission for final announcement following a hitch at the fag end of counting.

It was also a close call for DMK stalwart, the party's general secretary K Anbazhagan in Harbour constituency in the city, as he could win by a margin of just 409 votes against Seema Basheer of the MDMK.

According to available results, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who was re-elected from Andipatti, had won by a big margin of 25,186 votes, thus far, over her nearest DMK rival P Seeman.

UNI WS-GV VV AK KN2150