For the AIADMK, which fought tooth and nail to retain power in Tamil Nadu, the decision of its residents to elect the DMK to power came as a blow on Sunday. With 64 seats, excluding those won by its allies, it stood far behind the DMK which single-handedly won 124 constituencies. But what came as an even bigger shock was the defeat of several of the party's ministers, who had been fielded with the hope that a strong leader could win over people's confidence.
While leaders including Edappadi Palaniswami, O Panneerselvam and Sengottaiyan managed to come out of their battles relatively unscathed, for 10 ministers this election meant the end of a long run in the Legislative Assembly.
D Jayakumar, Fisheries Minister
Constituency: Royapuram
After winning from this ticket four times consecutively, Jayakumar was in for a rude shock this election. He managed to win only 30% of the vote while DMK's R Murthy, a lesser known face, managed to secure over 50% of the total votes.
Benjamin, Minister for School Education, Sports and Youth Welfare
Constituency: Maduravoyal
Benjamin was defeated by DMK’s Ganapathy K by over 31,721 votes, with MNM's Padmapriya coming third in this poll battle.
Mafoi Pandiarajan, Tamil language and culture minister
Constituency : Avadi
Pandiarajan, who was amongst the few rebel MLAs (after supporting O Panneerselvam in 2017) to get a ministerial berth, was trailing from the very beginning against DMK's Nasar SM in Avadi. He managed to secure only 31.57% of the votes, compared to the DMK candidate's 49.94%.
MC Sampath, Industries Minister
Constituency: Cuddalore
Sampath lost his election in Cuddalore by a margin of 5,000 votes to DMK's G Iyappan, who secured 84,563 votes. Naam Tamilar Katchi's candidate Jaladeepan, meanwhile, came third with 9490 votes.
C V Shanmugam, Law Minister
Constituency: Villupuram
DMK's Lakshmanan R won in this constituency with a vote share of close to 50%. Shanmugam was not too far behind at 42.66%, but with Naam Tamilar Katchi and Makkal Needhi Maiam also claiming votes, the minister faced defeat.
KC Veeramani, Commercial Taxes Minister
Constituency: Jolarpet
KC Veeramani of the AIADMK lost to DMK’s K Devaraji by a mere 906 votes in Jolarpet after 24 rounds of counting.
VM Rajalakshmi, Adi Dravida Welfare Minister
Constituency: Sankarankovil
Poll debutant E Raja of DMK defeated Minister for Adi Dravida Welfare VM Rajalakshmi by a margin of 5,354 votes on Sunday. With this victory, DMK wrested Sankarankovil from the AIADMK, which has been in power there for over 30 years.
Vellamandi Natarajan, Tourism Minister
Constituency: Tiruchirapalli (East)
It was a thumping victory for DMK's Inigo Irudayaraj, who won 54% of the vote share while Natarajan was reduced to 23% of the total vote share.
Rajenthra Balaji, Dairy Development Minister
Constituency: Rajapalayam
The Minister lost by a margin of close to 4000 votes to DMK's Thangapandian S. The election was predicted to be a difficult one for Balaji, who was contesting from Rajapalayam for the first time.