LS polls 2024: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured big wins on three seats in Tamil Nadu in the 1998 general elections. These three seats were Coimbatore, Nilgiris and Tiruchirappalli. The saffron party has fielded its state president K Annamalai from the Leftist bastion of Coimbatore and Union minister Dr L Murugan from Nilgiris against DMK MP A Raja.
The BJP has fielded Karuppiah against MDMK's Durai Vaiko and Naam Tamilar Katchi's (NTK) T Rajesh. While the BJP scored big gains on these seats in 1998, it remains to be seen whether the voters of Coimbatore, Nilgiris and Tiruchirappali will go the saffron route this time or not.
What happened in 1998 general elections?
Coimbatore: C.P. Radhakrishnana from the BJP emerged victorious, securing a total of more than 4.49 lakh votes. CPI's R Nallakannu emerged as the runner-up, losing by a margin of around 54,000 votes. BJP's win in Coimbatore in 1998 marked an exception from the norm. The Left has won the seat 7 times whereas the Congress has clinched this seat 5 times. While the DMK has managed to win this Leftist bastion twice, the AIADMK could make it only once.
Nilgiris: M Master Mathan of the BJP won this seat by securing at least 3.22 lakh votes and Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) leader S R Balasubramaniyan emerged as the runner-up. Balasubramanyam lost this election by a margin of 60,385 votes. Ever since then, the seat has gone from the Congress to the DMK then to the AIADMK, only to come back to DMK.
Tiruchirappalli: In 1998, the constituency, which comprises six Vidhan Sabha seats, was won by BJP leader Rangarajan Kumaramangalam. Kumaramangalam won the seat by over 3.05 lakh votes. Congress' L Adaikalaraj was the runner-up in this contest as he secured a total of more than 2.88 lakh votes. Adaikalaraj lost to Kumaramangalam by a margin of 89,197 votes.
Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha election 2024 trends
According to the INDIA Today Mood of the Nation survey, the Congress-led INDIA Opposition bloc is likely to win on all 39 seats. The survey further said that the Opposition is expected to win 47 per cent vote share whereas the BJP-led NDA alliance will grab 15 per cent vote share in the state.