BJP’s L Murugan loses to DMK's Kayalvizhi in Dharapuram by 1393 votes

L Murugan, the present of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Tamil Nadu, is fighting the 2021 state assembly election from the Dharapuram constituency. And, while he was ahead for a while, Murugan lost seat against, Kayalvizhi N by over 1393 votes.

This is the fourth time that Murugan has contested an election in his political career. However, this is his first time stepping onto the field after being appointed to the saffron party’s state leadership in March 2020.

Murugan had been quite confident about his win, telling reporters that he would come out ahead by at least 10,000 votes prior to counting day. He predicted that he was a shoe in since the DMK candidate was a new face, relatively unknown within the political landscape.

Muruugan and Dharapuram seat

“Despite my hometown being Paramathi Velur in Namakkal District, I choose to contest in Dharapuram only to uplift its highly deserving segment of people,” Murugan was seen telling reporters repeatedly during his campaign trail. He expects to win by a margin of no less than 50,000 votes.

Reacting to the criticism by opposition that he is an outsider to Dharapuram, Murugan said, “Why is DMK president M.K. Stalin is contesting from Kolathur constituency instead of his hometown in Tiruvarur district.”

Murugan’s campaign was unconventional

Dharapuram is a seat reserved for the scheduled caste. This seat is home to a significant population of Arunathiyars, Pallars, Kuravars and other scheduled communities. In a move to appeal to the characteristic voters of this seat, Murugan has adopted a different campaigning strategy than his usual pitch. With a predominant focus on the villages — he walked most part of the election campaign by foot and took up meetings under tree shades and temple premises.

Introduced by the party men to the locals as ‘Namma Aalu’ (our man), he closely interacted with the field workers and laborers enquiring about their problems and difficulties. During the campaigns, he ate with the party men to strengthen the bond and coordination. His supporters said the response they found during the campaign was certainly reassuring.

Murugan chose to jump into politics very early in his life. While he was still in college, he was an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) student wing.

He unsuccessfully contested the 2011 Tamil Nadu assembly election from Rasipuram constituency, getting only 1,730 votes, which was around 1.07% of the vote share.

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