Sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran on Sunday won the by-election for the Radhakrishnan Nagar (RK Nagar) constituency, defeating his nearest rival, E Madhusudhanan of the AIADMK by a margin of over 40,000 votes.
Dinakaran, who was contesting as an Independent, secured around 89,000 votes.
The seat had fallen vacant after the death of its sitting member, late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, on December 5, 2016.
Dinakaran's victory is a huge setback for the AIADMK party as the election was deemed as litmus test for Chief Minister O Palaniswami and his deputy Panneerselvam.
Here are the 10 keys things to know about the man who turned the tide for Sasikala camp in Tamil Nadu today:
1) TTV Dinakaran shocked his former party out of the key assembly constituency with a massive margin of over 40,000 votes. While Dinakaran secured 89,013 (50.32 %) votes, his closest rival AIADMK's E Madhusudhanan managed only 48,306 votes (27.30%).
2) The 54-year-old Dinakaran has been a member of Lok Sabha, representing Periyakulam from 1999 to 2004.
3) Dinakaran is nephew of former chief minister and AIADMK chief Sasikala's newphew.
4) He grabbed limelight and power when his aunt was at helm of party affairs post Amma's death. When Sasikala started her jail term in February, she gave him the reins of the AIDMK, to ensure remote control.
5)Jayalalithaa did not particulary take kind to him. Dinakaran was expelled by Jayalalithaa in 2011 along with other members of Sasikala's extended family often referred to disparagingly as the 'Mannargudi mafia', named after their hometown.
6) He remained an outcaste even after his aunt returned to Ms Jayalalithaa's home. But in the weeks after her death last December, the oldest son of Sasikala's sister made his way back and took over as the party's deputy general secretary.
7) All was merry for the leader untill the Panneerselvam and Palaniswami camps were busy in fighting, he was even AIADMK's (Palaniswami) candidate for RK Nagar seat.
8) But once they joined hands Dinakaran's luck turned. From being Palaniswami camp's candidate to being under investigation for bribing voters, Dinakaran has seen a lot of crusts and troughs before emerging victorious today.
9) After reports of voter bribing, Delhi police registered a case against him in April for alleged attempt to bribe the Election Commission for the AIADMK's election symbol. Dinakaran was charged with conspiracy and corruption in the case. In a recent development, the Tis Hazari Special Court granted him bail on the ground that the police had failed to identify the public official allegedly bribed.
10) Sasikala and Dinakaran lost the battle for 'two-leaves' election symbol to Panneerselvam and Palaniswami camp and had to settle for cooker as the symbol for their faction.
