With the State witnessing a perceptibly high turnout in percentage terms, the focus turns to the margin of victory that winners record in general over their immediate rivals.

Even in the run-up to the day of polling, the presence of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) founder C. Joseph Vijay generated the talk that the contest had become a three-cornered one instead of the usual bipolar race, thereby paving the way for closer electoral battle than in the past.