DMK-Cong makes a dent in Nilgiris, winning two seats

Udhagamandalam: As the AIADMK celebrates it's win in the state, the DMK-Congress alliance makes a small dent in the Nilgiri district, where they have won seats in two of the three constituencies with a margin of over 12,000 votes in each constituency. The ruling party had fielded first time MLA candidates in all three constituencies.
In Ooty constituency, while R Ganesh, INC, polled 67,747 votes, his rival AIADMK candidate, K Vinoth secured 57,329 votes.Ooty constituency, considered a Congress stronghold, saw an AIADMK MLA in last election.
This time, though both key contestants were from the badaga community, Ganesh's popularity among the public favoured him significantly.
"The Nilgiris is a Congress stronghold and the popularity of Ganesh worked in his favour," said J B Subramaniam, state executive member, TNCC.
He further said, "Our alliance partner DMK also supported us in our effort".
As far as Gudalur is concerned, DMK retains the seat with the sitting MLA being the contestant.
K Thiravidamani won the election for the second time with a margin of 13,379. He has worked closely with the people for the last five years, which has earned him considerable goodwill. Thus, it was no surprise that he retained his seat.
"Thiravidamani has done his duty agreeably as a MLA. He is easily approachable and is always there for the people when they need him," said L Valarmathi, a resident of Gudalur. Gudalur constituency comprises estate workers, besides migrants from Kerala.
However, DMK lost Coonoor constituency, considered its fort.
Interestingly, in 2011, when the DMK secured only 23 seats, two of the DMK MLAs elected were from the Nilgiris. The AIADMK had allotted the Coonoor and Gudalur constituencies to its allies and lost both seats.