Live Coimbatore Election Results 2024: Annamalai Staring At Defeat Against DMK Candidate

Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai is staring at a defeat as he is trailing by 34258 votes against the DMK's Ganapathy Rajkumar in the Coimbatore Lok Sabha election.

The counting of votes polled in the April 19 Lok Sabha elections to 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu began at 8 AM across the state on Tuesday. Counting began amid a heavy police security in all of the 39 counting centres. Postal ballots were taken up first.

As many as 950 candidates are in the fray in the 39 Lok Sabha segments in the state, which had a voter turnout of 69.72 per cent in the April 19 single-phase election in Tamil Nadu.

As per the EC data, the DMK candidate has secured 175973 votes. AIADMK candidate Singai Ramachandran has ended at third place with 74568 votes.

The BJP is placing a significant bet on the Coimbatore seat in Tamil Nadu as it strives to gain relevance in the state's politics.

The party has fielded its state president K Annamalai from this constituency. Whereas the ruling DMK, having reclaimed the seat from its ally CPI(M), has nominated Ganapathy P Rajkumar, a former Coimbatore mayor who joined the party in 2020 after leaving the AIADMK, thus ending the decade-long seat-sharing agreement.

The BJP is counting on the support of a sizable North Indian population and votes from Hindu organizations, while the DMK aims to attract minority votes and backing from allies like the CPI and CPM, which have influence among the working class. The AIADMK, on the other hand, relies on its traditional voter base.

Singai G Ramachandran is leveraging the support of party strongman SP Velumani and five MLAs. However, the DMK will feel the absence of jailed former minister V Senthil Balaji, who was instrumental in the party's success in the local body polls in the Kongu region.

In this context, the AIADMK has put forward Singai Ramachandran as its candidate, leading to a fierce three-way contest in Coimbatore, with BJP, DMK, and AIADMK all vying for dominance.

Coimbatore has witnessed record voter turnout in recent elections. The Lok Sabha constituency saw a 71.7 percent turnout, compared to 63.84 percent in 2019. In 2009, the turnout was 70.81 percent, with the lowest in the past 20 years recorded in 2004 at 55.51 percent. A decade ago, in 2014, the figure stood at 68.40 percent.

Tamil Nadu went to the polls on April 19.