Karunanidhi's remarkable election scorecard: 13 elections fought, none lost

He never lost an election, but he has had huge scares in the counting booth.

DMK chief M Karunanidhi is among the few politicians in India who can claim to have fought a significant number of elections without ever losing. The veteran leader contested in 13 Assembly elections, of the 15 that have been held since Independence.

But just because he has never lost doesn't mean it has all been smooth sailing for Karunanidhi. He has had really bad scares in counting in 1980 and 1991. There have also been elections when has won with massive margins, like the 1996 election which he won with a mindboggling margin of 59.88 percent. He never contested a Lok Sabha election.

Here is Karunanidhi's full election scorecard:

1951 Assembly election
Did Not Contest

1957
Constituency: Kulittalai
Opponent: KA Dharmalingam [Congress]
Margin of victory: 8296 votes (17.23%)

1962
Constituency: Thanjavur
Opponent: Parisutha Nadar [Congress]
Margin of victory: 1928 votes (3.05%)

1967
Constituency: Saidapet
Opponent: SG Vinayagamurthy [Congress]
Margin of victory: 20482 votes (23.38%)

1971
Constituency: Saidapet
Opponent: N Kamalingam [Congress (Organisation)]
Margin of victory: 12511 votes (10.76%)

1977
Constituency: Anna Nagar
Opponent: G Krishnamurthy [AIADMK]
Margin of victory: 16438 votes (19.12%)

1980
Constituency: Anna Nagar
Opponent: HV Hande [AIADMK]
Margin of victory: 699 votes (0.67%)

1984
Did Not Contest

1984-86
Member of Legislative Council till it was abolished.

1989
Constituency: Harbour
Opponent: KA Wahab [Muslim League]
Margin of victory: 31991 votes (45.92%)

1991
Constituency: Harbour
Opponent: K Suppu [Congress]
Margin of victory: 890 votes (1.4%)

1996
Constituency: Chepauk
Opponent: NSS Nellai Kannan [Congress]
Margin of victory: 35784 votes (59.88%)

2001
Constituency: Chepauk
Opponent: R Damodharan [Congress]
Margin of victory: 4834 votes (8.41%)

2006
Constituency: Chepauk
Opponent: Dawoon Miakhan [Independent]
Margin of victory: 8522 votes (12.7%)

2011
Constituency: Thiruvarur
Opponent: M Rajendran [AIADMK]
Margin of victory: 50249 votes (29.02%)

2016
Constituency: Thiruvarur
Opponent: R Panneerselvam [AIADMK]
Margin of victory: votes 68366 (34.74%)