Jayalalithaa defeats exit polls and opposition

The bad news for the AIADMK came from Chennai, which was battered by flash floods in December and whose voters appeared to have overwhelmingly turned against the ruling party. AIADMK candidates trailed behind the DMK in 10 of the 16 constituencies in the capital. But Jayalalithaa retained her Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency in the city, trouncing the DMK by 39,545 votes. DMK president and former chief minister M. Karunanidhi, 91, was also elected to the assembly from Thiruvarur -- for the 13th time. He has never been defeated since he began contesting elections in 1957.