Senior leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is currently trailing in Puducherry’s Karaikal South constituency as the counting of votes for 30-seat Puducherry Assembly continues.
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BJP’s M Arul Murugan is currently leading in the seat, as per the latest PValue data.
Nazeem is a senior leader of the DMK in Puducherry and has served multiple terms as a Member of the Puducherry Legislative Assembly and has also held key ministerial and opposition leadership roles.
Background
Nazeem is the son of Hameed Maraicaiar and began his political career in 1983. He built his political base in the Karaikal region and became one of the prominent DMK leaders in Puducherry politics over several decades.
He was first elected to the Puducherry Legislative Assembly from Karaikal North in 1990 and went on to win the seat again in 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2006. During the 1996 DMK government, he served as Health Minister, handling key public health responsibilities.
In 2006, he became the Leader of the Opposition in the Puducherry Legislative Assembly. After the reorganisation of constituencies, he contested from the newly formed Karaikal South Assembly Constituency in 2011 and won.
In the 2016 election, he lost narrowly by just 20 votes, making it one of the closest contests in the constituency’s history. However, he made a strong comeback in the 2021 election, defeating the same opponent .
About the constituency
The Karaikal South Assembly Constituency is a legislative assembly constituency in the Union Territory of Puducherry. It falls under the Karaikal district and is part of the Puducherry Lok Sabha constituency. Established in 1964, the seat has around 31,891 electors and is a general (unreserved) constituency.
From the 1970s to early 2000s, leaders like S. Ramassamy (AIADMK/Independent) and A. V. Subramanian (Congress) dominated different phases of the constituency. In 2006, V. K. Ganapathy of the Puducherry Munnetra Congress won the seat, marking another political shift
What happened in previous elections?
In the 2011 Puducherry Legislative Assembly election, A. M. H. Nazeem won the seat as a DMK candidate, defeating V. K. Ganapathy by around 1,500 votes. This marked DMK’s entry into the constituency’s modern political phase.
In the 2016 election, the seat shifted to K. A. U. Asana (AIADMK), who defeated A. M. H. Nazeem by a very narrow margin of just 20 votes, making it one of the closest contests in the constituency’s history.
In the 2021 election, A. M. H. Nazeem made a strong comeback, defeating K. A. U. Asana and securing a dominant victory with over 70% vote share. This result restored DMK control over the constituency
