The Congress avenged its defeat in the 2011 elections at the hands of All India N Rangasamy Congress (AINRC) founder N Rangasamy, who broke away from the national party to form his outfit and rode it to power, as the ruling party fell by the wayside bagging just eight seats.
The Congress which contested 21 seats, won in 15 seats.The DMK emerged succesful in two segments, giving the combine a clear majority as it bucked initial trends of a close fight with the AINRC when counting of the votes polled in the May 16 Assembly elections was taken up.
The AIADMK, which contested the elections on its own, won four seats. Independent V Ramachandran, backed by the People’s Welfare Alliance (PWA), defeated Congress heavyweight E Valsaraj in Mahe.
Prominent among the succesful Congress candidates are former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Assembly V Vaithilingam (Kamaraj Nagar) and Pradesh Congress Commitee president A Namassivayam (Villianur). In Karaikal South constituency, five-time DMK MLA AMH Nazeem lost to AIADMK’s KAU Asana by a slender margin of 20 votes.
Congress heavyweight E Valsaraj lost to Independent V Ramachandran in Mahe. Former Congress strongman P Kannan, who joined the AIADMK on the eve of the elections, lost to his protege K Lakshminarayanan in Raj Bhavan constituency.
The PWA comprising DMDK, MDMK, CPI-M, CPI and RSP contested from 28 constituencies but drew a blank. So did the BJP, which had fielded candidates from all 30 seats.