TVK draws a blank in the Nilgiris; DMK bags two & BJP one

Udhagamandalam: The Queen of Hill Stations in Tamil Nadu remained unreachable for TVK in its debut election, with DMK securing two seats and BJP the remaining one.While DMK and its ally Congress had won Coonoor and Udhagamandalam, respectively, in the 2021 poll, this time Udhagamandalam went to BJP. DMK, however, retained Coonoor and captured Gudalur (SC) constituency from AIADMK, which won the seat in the 2021 election. In Udhagamandalam, BJP's N Bhojarajan defeated TVK candidate R Ibrahim by a margin of 976 votes in a closely fought contest. Congress candidate B Ramachandran finished third. In the 2021 election, Congress candidate R Ganesh won the seat by defeating BJP's Bhojarajan by 5,348 votes. BJP has now turned the tables to secure a narrow victory. This time, the contest remained intense among BJP, Congress and TVK, with frequent shifts in lead during counting. Of the 27 constituencies contested by BJP in Tamil Nadu, this is the only seat where the party tasted success. DMK, meanwhile, retained the Coonoor constituency, with its candidate M Raju in his debut contest defeating AIADMK candidate A Ramu by 8,099 votes. Raju polled 50,470 votes, while Ramu secured 42,371 votes. In the 2021 election, DMK's K Ramachandran won the seat with 61,820 votes, defeating AIADMK's Vinoth, who polled 57,715 votes. In Gudalur (SC) constituency, DMK's M Dhravidamani, who polled 65,590 votes, registered a convincing victory over AIADMK candidate Pon Jayaseelan, who secured only 42,757 votes. In the 2021 election, it was Jayaseelan who won the seat by defeating DMK's S Kasilingam by a narrow margin of 1,945 votes.