One Vote Victory Loss In India: In Tamil Nadu, Thalapathy Vijay’s TVK’s Seenivasa Sethupathi defeated MK Stalin’s DMK minister Periakaruppan in Tirupattur by a margin of 1 vote. Earlier also in India, 2 leaders have lost by 1 vote. One would have been a CM.
One Vote Victory Loss In Indian Elections: India has got another leader who understands the value of victory and defeat by one vote. Periakaruppan, a senior minister in MK Stalin’s government in Tamil Nadu and a four-time MLA, has become the third leader in the country to lose the MLA election by a margin of 1 vote. In the Tirupattur seat of Tamil Nadu, film star Chandrasekaran Joseph Vijay alias Thalapathy Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) candidate Seenivasa Sethupathi has secured the seat in the Assembly for the first time by defeating Periyakaruppan by a margin of just 1 vote. Sethupathi was trailing from the first round till the 25th round, but led by 199 after the 26th round. After this, after increasing and decreasing the lead till the 30th and last round of counting, they finally settled on victory by 1 vote.
In India, before Periakaruppan, two leaders had lost the assembly elections by a margin of 1 vote. If one had won, he would have become the Chief Minister of his state. According to the available information about electoral history, the first such defeat by 1 vote occurred in the 2004 assembly elections in Karnataka. Then Rangaswami Dhruvanarayan of Congress had defeated Janata Dal-Secular MLA AR Krishnamurthy by 1 vote. Krishnamurthy had won from this seat in 1994 and 1999 on Janata Dal ticket. Nowadays he is in Congress and is currently MLA from Kollegal seat. Krishnamurthy had stopped his driver from voting in the 2004 elections to save time, which proved costly.
Vijay learned from Prashant Kishor’s defeat; Went alone, contested 2 seats, PK had said- TVK will win
So far three leaders have lost by one vote, but CP Joshi is the only leader who lost the chance to become the Chief Minister along with the legislature. CP Joshi, a senior leader of Rajasthan Congress and close to the Gandhi family, was fighting for his third consecutive victory from his old seat Nathdwara in 2008, but was defeated by BJP’s Kalyan Singh Chauhan by 1 vote. The defeat of CP Joshi cleared the way for Ashok Gehlot, who had once been the CM of Rajasthan, and he became the Chief Minister again. CP Joshi’s wife, mother and driver did not vote in the elections, the value of which no one except them could understand. CP Joshi, who missed becoming CM, went to Delhi after winning the Lok Sabha elections from Bhilwara in 2009 and then became the minister of important departments in the Manmohan Singh government.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government fell by one vote in 1999
There have now been three instances of an MLA losing and winning the election by one vote. There is also a precedent in India for the government falling by one vote. In 1999, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government was ousted from power after Jayalalitha withdrew her support. Vajpayee had proposed a trust vote in the Lok Sabha, but 269 votes were cast in its support and 270 against it. People still listen and remember that speech given by Vajpayee in the Lok Sabha. After the fall of the government, elections were held and a strong NDA government was formed under the leadership of Vajpayee, defeating which Congress returned to the government in 2004.
History of losing elections by 1 vote in India
✦How many leaders in India have lost Assembly or Lok Sabha elections by 1 vote?–
Three- AR Krishnamurthy, CP Joshi and Periyakruppan have lost the assembly elections by 1 vote. Till now there has not been defeat by 1 vote in the Lok Sabha elections.
✦Has any government fallen in India by 1 vote?+
