Chennai South went on polls in the first phase on April 19. Three major contestants – sitting MP and DMK leader Sumathy Thamizhachi Thangapandian, BJP’s Tamilisai Soundararajan and AIADMK’s J Jayavardhan contested.
A voter turnout of 54.17%, with 10,96,026 casting their vote was registered.
Results
| Party-Candidate | Status |
| DMK -Sumathy Thamizhachi Thangapandian | Leading |
| AIADMK – J Jayavardhan | Trailing |
| BJP – Tamilisai Soundararajan | Trailing |
Chennai South
In 2009, Chennai South consisted of six segments- Triplicane, Mylapore, Saidapet, Alandur, Tambaram and Thiyagarayanagar. However, after the delimitation process, Chennai South consists of – Virugampakkam, Saidapet, Thiyagarayanagar, Mylapore, Velachery and Shozhinganallur.
Home to more than 6,000 software companies, Chennai South has more than one million population of different ethnicities, geographical and linguistic residents. However, in 2019, the constituency performance was poor with a very low voter turnout.
2014
In the 2014 General Elections, the AIADMK’s J Jayavardhan won by over 40% vote share (4,34,540 votes) followed by DMK’s TKS Elangovan by 28.4% vote share (2,98,965 votes) and BJP’s Ganesan by 24.57% vote share (2,58,262 votes).
| Candidate | Party | Vote share (%) |
| J Jayavardhan | AIADMK | 40% (4,34,540 votes) |
| TKS Elangovan | DMK | 28.4% (2, 98,965 votes) |
| Ganesan | BJP | 24.57% (2,58,262 votes) |
2019
Tables turned in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with the DMK’s Thamizhachi Thangapandian winning by over 50% vote share (5,64,872 votes). She defeated AIADMK’s J Jayavardhan who secured 26.9% vote share (3,02,649 votes) who was previously elected as the Chennai South’s MP.
| Candidate | Party | Vote share (%) |
| Thamizhachi Thangapandian | DMK | 50.0% (5,64,872 votes) |
| J Jayavardhan | AIADMK | 26.9% (3,02,649 votes) |
Sitting MP Sumathy Thamizhachi Thangapandian
Sitting MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian is the daughter of V Thangapandian, a former state commercial tax minister and a loyalist to DMK’s patriarch M Karunanidhi. With that, Thamizhachi Thangapandian enjoys a clean image and best choice. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, she won over AIADMK’s J Jayavardhan by over 2,62,223 more votes.
The winner of Chennai South wins not just a seat. Along with the seat comes a lot of pride legacy and honour.
BJP’s Tamilisai Soundararajan
After resigning from the post of Telangana Governor, BJP’s Tamilisai Soundararajan jumped back into the electoral race as the party’s South Chennai Lok Sabha candidate. The 62-year-old doctor turned politician recently resigned as Telangana’s Governor in March this year after her volatile equation with the former KCR-led Bharat Rastra Samithi government.
This year, she is up against DMK’s sitting MP Thamizhachi Thangapandian in Chennai South and AIADMK’s J Jayavardhan.
Before donning the Governor’s hat, Soundararajan was the BJP chief of Tamil Nadu. She had fought five electoral polls but has not tasted success yet. In 2009, she contested from Chennai North but was defeated by DMK candidate TKS Elangovan securing 3.54% of votes. She did not contest in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, she was defeated by DMK’s Kannimozhi from the Toothukudi constituency securing 21.77% of the votes.
