The Kanyakumari constituency in Tamil Nadu is a key constituency which sees the battle between BJP’s Pon Radhakrishnan against Congress’s H Vasanthakumar
Kanyakumari: Counting has begun in the Tamil Nadu constituency where the DMK is leading in the state. However, sitting member of parliament P Radhakrishnan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in the Kanyakumari constituency.
Ponnar, as he is fondly called in the region, is contesting to be re-elected for a second term in the Lok Sabha.
Congress has fielded H Vasanthakumar as its candidate. The Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) candidate is Laxman while the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) has been represented by J Ebinesar.
H Vasanthakumar was leading for a brief period and has now been overtaken by Ponnar.
Though exit polls predicted that Radhakrishnan would be defeated by Vasanthakumar and preliminary results in the morning showed that Congress was leading, the votes have swung in the favour of Radhakrishnan who seems to be headed towards a repeat win like the one he tasted in 2014. However, it’s still early to make an accurate prediction.
Also read: Kanyakumari: Will BJP's gateway to Tamil Nadu in 2014 prove as lucky?
In the 2014 general elections, P Radhakrishnan of the BJP defeated H Vasanthakumar of the Congress with a vote margin of 12.99% (1,28,622 votes).
The DMK is currently leading in 29 seats in the state. The AIADMK had won 37 of 39 seats in the 2014 general election. This is the first time that the state has gone to polls without their stalwarts, J Jayalalithaa and DMK supremo M Karunanidhi.
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