Chennai, Oct 20 (IANS): The ruling parties of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the AIADMK and All India NR Congress (AINRC), Thursday retained the Trichy West and Indira Nagar seats in the two states respectively.
AIADMK's M. Paranjothi got over 68,800 votes against his closest rival, former DMK minister K.N. Nehru, who bagged about 54,000 votes, an election official said.
The Oct 13 by-election poll in Tamil Nadu was elected by the death of AIADMK's Mariam Pitchai in a road accident in May, soon after the AIADMK took power in the state.
In Puducherry, AINRC's A. Tamilsevane won from Indira Nagar by securing 15,053 votes. His closest rival, K. Aroumougam of the Congress, got 7,007 votes.
The AIADMK's A. Venkateswaran got 1,578 votes and lost his security deposit.
The by-election in Puducherry followed the resignation of AINRC leader and Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, who won from two places in the May election but chose to retain the Kadirkamam seat.
Ever since voting began in Trichy, Paranjothi was in the lead except when postal votes were counted. All five postal votes went to Nehru.
DMK founder leader and former chief minister M. Karunanidhi suggested that Nehru found the battle tough because the AIADMK controlled government resources.
"For Nehru, it was like running a race with the legs tied," he said.