Jayalalithaa wins R K Nagar by-polls by over 1.5 lakh votes

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa won the R K Nagar by-polls by over 1.5 lakh votes on Tuesday. According to reports, Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah congratulated her on the victory.

Meanwhile, all the other candidates contesting the by-polls lost their deposit.

She was pitted against Communist Party of India candidate C Mahendran and social activist 'Traffic' Ramaswamy.

AIADMK supporters were in a celebratory mode with many of them thronging the party headquarters and Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence in Chennai, raising slogans of 'Puratchi Thalavi Vazhga’ (Hail revolutionary leader).

Party supporters said Tuesday's results were a 'precursor' to the assembly polls scheduled next year.

During her campaign on June 22 at R K Nagar, Jayalalithaa had not only sought a massive victory for her party, but insisted that it should be a 'precursor' to the next assembly polls.

Referring to her conviction in a disproportionate assets case, in which she was subsequently acquitted, Jayalalithaa had said that there was a situation where she had to step aside as the chief minister due to a 'politically motivated case,' while insisting that the June 27 by-poll on this constituency was a "compulsion".

The by-election was necessitated following AIADMK's P Vetrivel vacating the seat in May, apparently to enable Jayalalithaa seek re-election. She has to fulfil the constitutional requirement of getting elected as MLA within six months of becoming the chief minister.

Jayalalithaa returned to the top post on May 23 after being acquitted in the disproportionate assets case by the Karnataka high court. She had been convicted in the case in September last by a trial court in Bengaluru.

Image: Supporters of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa wear masks as they celebrate in Chennai. Photograph: Babu/Reuters