"Amma wave" sweeps AAP away in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: The Aam Aadmi Party`s (AAP) debut Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu proved to be a perfect disaster with all of its 24 candidates, including the prominent anti-nuclear activists S P Udayakumar and his two associates trounced. AAP, as part of its campaign, took up several issues considered important in Tamil Nadu like the controversial methane coal bed project in Cauvery delta districts seeking to strike the right chord with the electorate.

The party even did what rivals called "poll gimmicks" like sweeping the floors of Chennai Central Railway Station to attract voters` attention. However, the electorate swept them away. Notably, the three anti-nuclear activists S P Udayakumar, Pushparayan and S P Sesuraj, were expected to perform well since they contested constituencies in the districts around Kudankulam, in view of their prolonged protest against the nuclear power plant there. However, all of them fared poorly. Udayakumar ended up in the fifth place after BJP, Congress, AIADMK and DMK in Kanyakumari with 15,204 votes and forfeited deposit. In Tuticorin, M Pushparayan secured 26,476 votes and was relegated to the fifth place. Even worse, in Tirunelveli, Sesuraj, secured 18,353 votes to end at the sixth place and the two were also expected to lose their deposits.