TN Election Results 2021: Kamal Haasan was trailing as vote counting entered the final rounds. (File)
Veteran movie actor and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder Kamal Haasan was today defeated in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore (South) constituency at the end of counting of the votes polled in the recently-held Assembly election.
The BJP's Vanathi Srinivasan overtook Mr Haasan, who was till then leading, by around 6 pm and ultimately won the election by around 1,500 votes.
Earlier, the actor had reached the counting Centre at the city's GCT College campus.
The Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu were held on April 6. The counting of votes began at 8 am today, with the DMK scoring a considerable lead early in the day. By the final rounds, it was leading in 143 seats, leaving behind the ruling AIADMK with 90. The party needs only 118 seats to cross the half-way mark in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.
This election was the first for the state to be held in the absence of two towering leaders, former Chief Ministers J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi.
The election saw 3,998 candidates contesting across 234 constituencies.
The DMK has been out of power since 2011. The MNM was founded only February 2018 by the thespian, vowing to veer the state away from the ways of the two key mainstream outfits.
Exit polls have predicted a sweep for the DMK-led alliance. The AIADMK-led alliance includes the BJP while the DMK is allied with the Congress and the Left parties.