Actor Kamal Haasan, who made his electoral debut in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, lost in the Coimbatore (South) constituency by a margin of 1,728 votes.
Haasan was leading in the constituency when trends emerged in the morning. However, as the day progressed, his lead became narrower. Vanathi Srinivasan of the Bharatiya Janata Party won with 52,627 votes, while Haasan bagged 51,087 votes.
Congress candidate Mayura S Jayakumar had also received 41,663 votes, making the contest a three-cornered one.
Haasan’s party, the Makkal Needhi Maiam, drew a blank in its first state elections as trends showed that none of the outfit’s other candidates were in a position to win a seat.
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The party was in the fray in 154 of the 234 seats that went to polls in the Tamil Nadu election. Its allies, the All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi and Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi fought on 40 seats each. The allies could not manage a seat either.
Meanwhile, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led coalition is set to return to power in Tamil Nadu after 10 years. The MK Stalin-led party and its allies had either won or were ahead in 158 seats.
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