Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK, which suffered a massive defeat in the Radhakrishnan Nagar (RK Nagar) bye-election where votes were counted on Sunday, has blamed its debacle on the secret pact between opposition DMK and its sidelined leader TTV Dinakaran who won the seat.
In a joint statement issued in Chennai, AIADMK Coordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and Joint Coordinator and Chief Minister K Palaniswami said the secret pact between DMK and Dinakaran resulted in the latter's win.
The statement said the people of Tamil Nadu are wondering as to how DMK was not able to secure even its committed vote share.
Citing Dinakaran's statement that he was happy on hearing the acquittal of DMK leaders Kanimozhi and A Raja in the 2G spectrum case, the AIADMK leaders said the DMK has given its votes to Dinakaran.
Contesting as an Independent candidate, Dinakaran got 89,013 votes as against Madhusudhanan's 48,306 votes. The DMK's N Marudhu Ganesh came a poor third securing 24,681 votes and also forfeiting the poll deposit.
While 2,373 voters have voted for 'none of the above' (NOTA) option, BJP candidate K Nagarajan has got 1,417 votes and Naam Tamizhar party's Kalaikotudhayam got 3,860 votes.
Supporters of Dinakaran celebrated the victory by dancing, distributing sweets and bursting crackers.
From the start, Dinakaran was in the lead and the gap between him and the rivals kept on widening as the counting progressed.
Earlier in the day, Dinakaran, speaking to reporters at the Madurai airport, predicted that the government headed by EPS will fall in three months time.
He said the people in RK Nagar have reflected the views of the Tamil Nadu's populace.
The RK Nagar constituency fell vacant after the death of its sitting member, late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on December 5, 2016. The bye-poll was held on December 21, and saw around 1.77 lakh people voting.