Winning margins increase, but development evades RK Nagar

CHENNAI: Development has barely skimmed the surface of RK Nagar since the constituency was formed in 1977. From 1991 (barring the 1996 assembly election when the AIADMK was routed) it has remained loyal to AIADMK. But with Chennai having largely remained a DMK citadel until the 2011 assembly election, RK Nagar remained out of the purview of parties in government.

The winning margin in the constituency began to increase from 1989 assembly election with voter turnout too going up. When AIADMK candidates began winning, victory margins shot up to 30,000 votes. Prior to that the margin was below 10,000 and the turnout too was low.

Candidates who polled high in the constituency include former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. She polled the highest 97,218 votes in the 2016 assembly election. But, when it comes to winning margins, DMK’s S P Sargunam won with the maximum of 43,081 votes in 1996. So far the constituency has faced two byelections and in 2015, Jayalalithaa won by a margin of 1.5 lakh votes against C Mahendran of CPI. DMK boycotted the byelection. On Sunday, independent candidate T T V Dhinakaran won by a margin of 40,707 votes.


Unlike other urban constituencies where voters hold candidates to ransom — their votes in return for basic facilities, RK Nagar residents have been bartering votes for money. The constituency has largely remained backward with a sizeable portion of its voters constituting daily wage earners and fisherfolk.

“In one section of the constituency, traders are involved in making utensils, chairs and chocolates. On the far side, along the shores are fishermen in Kasimedu where residents speak languages other than Tamil. These people are employed in Corporation and other small shops as scavengers,” a senior Chennai Corporation officer told TOI. Residents here have encroached areas along the railway line. “Many families in the constituency are daily wage workers and some work as car and truck drivers. The literacy rate is low compared to other constituencies within Chennai. Thus residents in the constituency expect money to meet their daily demands, especially from political parties,” said the official.

Over the years, AIADMK legislators have neglected the constituency. “No steps were taken to vacate people who are encroaching on government land. The voters also know they will not be disturbed and have been supporting AIADMK for the past several elections,” said DMK MLA S Sudarsanam. Unless encroachments are removed, there’s no hope for development here, he said.