Congress retains Vilavancode assembly constituency in bypoll

Chennai, Jun 4 (PTI) Congress retained the Vilavancode assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari district defeating the BJP, as per the results of the byelection announced by the Election Commission on Tuesday.

Party candidate Tharahai Cuthbert trounced BJP's V S Nanthini by a margin of 40,174 votes in the bypoll necessitated by the resignation of former Congress legislator S Vijayadharani who joined the BJP days before the Lok Sabha election was announced.

Cuthbert garnered 91,054 votes and reestablished Vilavancode as a Congress bastion. Nanthini polled 50,880 votes.

Tamil nationalist party Naam Tamilar Katchi's candidate R Jemini was relegated to the third position. PTI JSP ANE