Election results 2016: Ending the stranglehold of a prominent political family in the region, the voters of Neravy constituency in this district of Puducherry have elected a candidate outside it in the Assembly polls.
AIADMK’s V M C Shivakumar, whose family members have won the seat in nine successive elections since 1977, lost to DMK’s Geetha Anandan by a margin of 6,936 votes.
Tragically, Geetha’s husband Anandan passed away on the day she filed her nomination papers last month.
Since 1977, the contest in Neravi constituency had been directly between the members of the same family, known as the ‘VMC family’ in the region.
Sivakumar, a former minister and Assembly speaker, himself had won the seat five times, including on four occasions as the DMK candidate.
However, after the DMK denied him ticket, Sivakumar had contested in Neravi as an independent and won it.
Sivakumar joined the AIADMK ahead of this election, but ran out of electoral luck as his family lost its hold.