Big victory, not big enough for J Jayalalithaa

CHENNAI: After winning a by-poll with a margin of over 96,000 votes, it is not party time yet for the AIADMK.

On the contrary, some senior state ministers of the ruling AIADMK are sitting on the edge of their seats not knowing whose head will roll for not giving a victory that is 'convincing enough'.

The by-poll was held in Srirangam assembly constituency after the then Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa had to vacate her seat following her conviction in the disproportionate assets case.

Even as Jayalalithaa's appeal against the conviction is being heard in the Karnataka High Court, AIADMK's S Valarmathi contested in her place against DMK and BJP and won the by-poll with a massive margin of 96,516 votes. But more than the margin of victory, something that is irking the AIADMK is the number of votes that the DMK got.

The DMK polled over 55,000 votes in the assembly constituency, which is considered an AIADMK bastion.

“The AIADMK leadership wanted DMK to lose its deposit but that did not happen. The party is now taking stock of what went wrong and may take action against those who did not deliver,“ said a source.