Madhar Badhurudeen of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) dislodged Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, known as PTR — a two-time MLA and former finance minister, to win the Madurai Central seat with a vote share of 43%.
Madhar Badhurudeen, about whom little is known, won a total of 63,414 votes, which was a lead of over 19,000 votes.
Madhar Badhurudeen’s victory in Madurai Central assumes significance given the recent rise in communal tensions over the Subramania Swamy temple in Thiruparakundram.
PTR lost the election, obtaining 44,286 votes and 29% of the vote share, while C Sundar of the AIADMK came in third with 33,538 votes and 22% of the total votes polled.
Badhurudeen led from the early hours of counting on Monday, May 4. By the third round, his margin stood at 5,916 votes with over 13,000 votes in his favour.
Through the day, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) vied for second place while the TVK maintained a steady lead.
By the fifth round, Badhurudeen had crossed 20,000 votes, double of what both the DMK's P Thiaga Rajan and the AIADMK's C Sundar had polled. By the sixth round, PTR had slipped to third place, locked in a tight contest with the AIADMK's Sundar for second.
During the 2021 Assembly election, PTR had won the Madurai Central seat with over 73,000 votes and 48% of the vote share, defeating the AIADMK’s Jothi Muthuramalingam with over 39,000 votes and 26% of the vote share.
In an interview with TNM ahead of the election, PTR argued that the state was witnessing relatively low anti-incumbency and said that governance had focused on improving efficiency, expanding welfare delivery, and building a data-driven administrative system.
