Live Theni Election Results 2024: DMK's Thanga Tamilselvan Is Leading

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 early trends, the DMK candidate is leading in Theni constituency.

TTV Dhinakaran, the founding leader of Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), a splinter group of the AIADMK, is staging a political comeback by contesting from the Theni Parliamentary constituency after a 25-year hiatus.

For TTV Dhinakaran, the past seven years have been a roller coaster of expulsion, betrayal, and incarceration, as the nephew of estranged AIADMK leader VK Sasikala. Despite past differences with the BJP, the 60-year-old leader is now running under the BJP-led NDA banner from Theni, adding heat to the electoral battle against the ruling DMK alliance.

Thanga Tamilselvan, a former close aide of Dhinakaran, is the DMK's candidate for the constituency. Notably, all three prominent contenders-Tamilselvan of the DMK, Dr VT Narayanasamy of the AIADMK, and Dhinakaran-share a common political background, having been nurtured within the AIADMK under the leadership of Jayalalithaa.

As part of the BJP-led NDA in the state, the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam has been granted two seats by the saffron party for the upcoming elections. Dhinakaran previously represented the then Periyakulam Lok Sabha seat, situated in Theni district, from 1999 to 2004.

According to Election Commission data, Theni recorded an approximate voter turnout of 69.84 percent.