CHENNAI: It was a double whammy for the ruling AIADMK in the Chennai Corporation, as the party’s Mayoral candidate Saidai S Duraisamy wrested the prestigious seat from DMK with a margin of over five lakh votes. The party for the first time in the civic body’s history has won 168 seats (out of 200) in the Corporation Council.Since the trends started coming in at the Loyola College Counting Centre in the morning, Duraisamy maintained a healthy lead over DMK’s M Subramanian. His numbers were on an upward trajectory until the results were out in his favour at 9.45 pm.Duraisamy polled a whopping 12,40,340 votes and defeated his nearest rival from DMK, M Subramanian with a huge margin of over 5.19 lakhs.Of the total 21 lakh votes polled, Subramanian got 7,20, 593 votes, DMDK’s G Velmurugan secured 1,42, 203 votes and PMK’s A K Moorthy garnered only 47,327 votes in the recently expanded Corporation.Though Duraisamy witnessed the counting of votes at Loyola Centre in the morning, he visited the other counting centres and returned to Loyola only in the evening after his victory was almost certain. District Election Officer D Karthikeyan announced the results and handed over the Certificate of Election to Duraisamy in the presence of the party’s MLAs and ministers.Speaking to reporters after winning the coveted post, Duraisamy said, “It’s Amma’s victory. My first priority is a clean administration and clean Chennai.“Amma has given us a roadmap for making Chennai a clean city and we will be implementing it wholeheartedly,” Duraisamy told reporters amidst thundering applause. He soon left for a victory rally. Apart from Duraisamy and Subramanian, all the other Mayor aspirants, 30 in all, lost their deposits.
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