CHENNAI: The BJP scripted success in the 2021 Assembly elections of Tamil Nadu winning 4 seats out of the 20 it had contested. However, the party's vote share was only 2.6 per cent.
BJP women's wing national president Vanathi Srinivasan emerged a giant killer by defeating South Indian superstar and President of Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) by a margin of 1, 540 votes at Coimbatore South seat.
Vanathi had been continuously working at the grassroots in the constituency after losing the seat in 2016 garnering 33, 113 votes. However in the 2016 elections, the BJP had contested alone while in 2021 it was in alliance with the AIADMK.
At Tirunelveli constituency, Nainar Nagendran of the BJP won by a margin of 23, 402 votes against DMK leader A.L.S. Lakshmanan. Nagendran was a former leader of the AIADMK and is presently the state vice president of the BJP.
Senior BJP leader M.R. Gandhi won the Nagercoil Assembly constituency by a good majority over his DMK opponent N. Suresh Rajan by a margin of 9, 857 votes. Kanyakumari district has been a good base of the BJP ever since its Jana Sangh days and the RSS has also a good number of Shakhas in this area. Nagercoil is part of the Kanyakumari district.
Party woman leader and Medical doctor, Dr. C. Swaraswathi defeated DMK candidate, Subbulakshmi Jagadeeshan by a margin of 1, 244 votes. Dr. Saraswathi is a medical doctor who has been in the forefront of several social activists in the constituency for long.
While the BJP won four seats, it was not all rosy for the party with its state president L. Murugan and its senior leader and former National secretary H. Raja, Cine star and BJP leader Khushboo Sundar and IPS officer turned politician Annamalai losing the elections.
BJP Tamil Nadu state president and young leader Murugan lost the elections at Dharapuram constituency of Tamil Nadu by a slender margin of 812 votes against DMK's N. Kayalvizhi. H. Raja lost the elections at Karaikudi Assembly constituency by a margin of around 20, 000 votes against S. Mangudi of the Congress in a fight between two national parties. K. Annamalai lost from Aruvarakurichi constituency by a margin of 24, 300 votes to R. Elango of the DMK.
BJP state spokesman Advocate K.T. Raghavan while speaking to IANS said, "We did decently well in the elections and could win 4 seats. We lost by slender margins in some seats, including Dharapuram where the party state president L. Murugan lost by 812 votes. We contested in 20 seats and won 4 which is not a bad result. Party will study in detail on the total vote the party garnered and the factors which led to its victory/defeat."