India’s Tamil Nadu legislator wins via one-vote margin, attributes victory to Joseph Vijay

R. Seenivasa Sethupathy won the Tiruppattur constituency in Tamil Nadu with a razor-thin margin of just one vote, ending K.R. Periakaruppan’s 20-year dominance

or R. Seenivasa Sethupathy, it was a victory he’s unlikely ever going to forget. The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) candidate won the Tiruppattur constituency in Tamil Nadu with a razor-thin margin of just one vote, trouncing K.R. Periakaruppan, a former DMK minister and four-time legislator.

Sethupathy won the seat with 83,375 votes, while Periakaruppan got 83,374.

The DMK candidate was leading in the beginning with a margin of over 900 votes at the end of the first round of 30. But after the 25th round, he began losing to Sethupathy.

At the end of the 30th round, the latter had won 83,010 votes, while Periakaruppan got 82,191. However, counting of postal votes saw the TVK candidate emerge victorious with just one vote.

DMK president M.K. Stalin will challenge the narrow defeat in a court.

Sethupathy attributed his victory to Joseph Vijay, the TVK chief. His one-vote victory brought an end to Periakaruppan’s 20-year dominance of the constituency.

TVK emerged as the largest party in the state, winning 108 seats, while the DMK – which was in power – could manage 59 seats. Stalin lost his seat to V.S. Babu of the TVK. In Greater Chennai, its stronghold, where it had won all 36 seats in 2021, it could win just two.