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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has swept the RK Nagar by-election, defeating CPI candidate C Mahendran by over 1.50 lakh votes. Of the 1,81,420 votes cast, the AIADMK supremo polled 1,60,432, while Mahendran polled 9,710 and social activist KR Ramaswamy (popularly called Traffic Ramaswamy), 4,590. A total of 2,376 voters opted for the NOTA (None of the Above) option, according to data provided in the Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer’s website.
RK Nagar is one of the smallest Assembly constituencies in the State, with 2,43,241 voters. The polling, held last Friday, had seen a record 74.4 per cent turnout.
The main opposition parties DMK, DMDK, Congress, BJP and PMK boycotted the election, which was necessitated after the AIADMK’s P Vetrivel vacated the seat in May to enable Jayalalithaa to seek a re-election following her acquittal by the Karnataka High Court in a graft case.
She was sworn in as Chief Minister on May 23. Last September, she was convicted in the case by a trial court in Bengaluru and had to vacate her Srirangam seat.
On Tuesday, Jayalalithaa thanked voters and her Cabinet colleagues. The giant victory is an indication of what is to come in the 2016 Assembly elections in the State, she said in a statement. A large number of AIADMK workers thronged Jayalalithaa’s residence at Poes Garden here, bursting crackers and distributing sweets.
PTI reports: The DMK today termed the by-election as a “farce”, while the CPI demanded a probe into the conduct of the election.
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