Thumbs up to ruling party in Cuddalore

CUDDALORE: Cuddalore has turned into a bastion for the ruling AIADMK as its candidates emerged victorious in all the eight municipalities in the district.The party also performed well in 14 out of 16 town panchayats in the district except for Vadalur and Parangipet. The state government’s welfare schemes seem to have swung both the urban and rural voters towards the AIADMK as the it won the chairmanships of Cuddalore, Nellikuppam, Panruti, Chidambaram and Virudhachalam municipalities in the district. The vote margins between AIADMK candidates and their nearest rivals are also huge.CK Subramaniyan (AIADMK) secured 39,634 while his nearest rival KS Raja (DMK) got 21,517. S Dhanasekaran of CPM got 5348 votes and P Thamaraiselvan of the VCK got 4799 votes.Out of 45 wards AIADMK swept 26 wards, DMK won in 5 wards, PMK in 3 wards, VCK won in 2 wards while Congress and DMDK won one ward each and the independent candidates emerged victorious in seven wards.   Chidambaram AIADMK’s Nirmala Sundar defeated DMK candidate S Ezhilmathi with a margin of 6988 votes. Nirmala secured 16, 318 votes whereas Ezhilmathi got 9330 votes. CPM’s H.Bowjiya Begam finished third with 3017 votes.Panruti AIADMK candidate P Paneerselvam emerged triumphant with 14,790 votes while  S Ananthi of the DMK got 6469 votes. Congress candidate R Panchavarnam finished third with 6160 votes and DMDK’s S Arivoli got 4680 votes.Out of 33 wards in the region,  the AIADMK emerged victorious in a total of 24 wards, DMK in 6 wards, DMDK in 2 wards and the CPI candidate in one ward.NellikuppamS Sudhakar, AIADMK candidate, became the chairman of Nellikuppam municipality by scoring 9730 votes while his opponent S Pugazendhi of DMK got 5431 votes. VrridhachalamAIADMK candidate R D Aranganathan won by securing 13,857 votes and DMK’s V Thatchinamoorthy got 9230 votes. DMDK candidate R Ananthagopal garnered 4131 votes while PMK’s Murugan secured 2731 votes.AIADMK won all three municipalities in Villupuram district.VillupuramAIADMK’s G Baskaran won  the civic poll by securing 27,427 votes while DMK’s R Sarkkarai got 21,126 votes.In Tindivanam, AIADMK candidate K V N Venkatesan got 16372 votes, while DMK’s Kabilan got 7296 votes. At Kallakurichi, AIADMK’s G Balakrishnan got 9903 votes and DMK’s Subburayalu got 7912 votes.