Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 5 : Tamil Nadu witnessed a series of tight contests in the recently concluded assembly elections on May 4, in which a margin of just 1000 votes decided the fate of more than 10 candidates, allowing for typical party bastions to flip after decades.
These razor-thin margins reimposed the most popular saying of a democratic society, that "every vote counts!"
The closest contest took place on the Tiruppattur Assembly constituency in Sivaganga district, where one vote proved to be fatal for Tamil Nadu Co-operation Minister KR Periyakaruppan, ending his 20-year dominance.
At the end of the penultimate round of counting of votes on Monday, Periyakaruppan was leading by 30 votes. However, the final round brought a stunning turnaround, with election officials declaring his closest rival, Seenivasa Sethupathy of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), as the winner.
Sethupathy secured 83,365 votes, edging past Periyakaruppan, who polled 83,364 votes, registering one of the most shocking upsets in Indian electoral history.
The second closest contest took place on the Veppanhalli Assembly constituency, where DMK's PS Srinivasan won against AIADMK's KP Munsamy by a margin of 138 votes.
Actor-turned-politician Vijay's TVK had multiple surprises up their sleeves as it secured close victories in various seats to emerge as the single largest party.
In Polur Assembly constituency, R Abishek emerged as the winner against DMDK's P Saravanan by a margin of 227 votes. TVK's Arul Vignesh won the Kallakurichi seat against AIADMK's S Rajeev Gandhi by a margin of 798 votes. 679 votes separated TVK's Vinoth victory from DMK's G Anbalagan, breaching a DMK fortress that was established in 1996. In Cumbum, the incumbent DMK MLA suffered a defeat against TVK's PLA Jeganath Mishra by a margin of 751 votes.
Another nail-biting thriller took place at Tirukkoyilur, where AIADMK General Secretary and Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami barely survived with a margin of 285 votes against TVK's Vijay R Barani Balaaji.
The intense competition continued in Paramathi-Velur, where AIADMK's S Sekar emerged victorious by a margin of 308 votes over DMK's KS Moorthiy. Similarly, in Kulithalai, DMK's Suriyanur A. Chandran triumphed by 579 votes against TVK's G. Balasubramani.
TVK had a spectacular debut in Tamil Nadu assembly elections, winning 108 seats in the 234-member assembly, falling only 10 seats short of the majority mark.
TVK needs to cross the majority mark of 118 to form the government. The party is likely to seek support of smaller parties that were part of either the DMK or the AIADMK alliance.
Congress (5 seats), PMK (4 seats), Left parties (4 seats) and VCK (2 seats) are among the parties that could extend support to TVK.
The results have also shattered long-held notions about actors struggling to succeed in politics, as Vijay now joins the league of iconic actor-turned-leaders like NT Rama Rao, MG Ramachandran, and J Jayalalithaa.
TVK's victory marks a historic shift, as Tamil Nadu may witness its first government outside the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) dominance since June 1977.
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