Trichy: All three members of lottery baron Santiago Martin’s family, who made their electoral debut representing different parties in the 2026 polls, have won.Martin’s wife Leema Rose, who contested on an AIADMK ticket in Trichy district’s Lalgudi segment has won by a margin of 2,739 votes. She was the richest candidate in Tamil Nadu and has now become the richest MLA in the state assembly.In Chennai’s Villivakkam, Martin’s son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna, who is the general secretary (campaign) of Vijay’s TVK, won by a margin of 17,302 votes, defeating DMK and AIADMK candidates.And, in the neighbouring union territory of Puducherry, Martin’s elder son, Jose Charles Martin, who floated Latchiya Jananayaka Katchi (LJK) and allied with AINRC-BJP, has won Kamaraj Nagar constituency by a margin of 10,205 votes.Leema Rose has become the first woman AIADMK candidate to have won in central Tamil Nadu. Though Lalgudi was a stronghold of DMK, Leema had maintained a steady lead from the beginning. Eventually, she defeated DMK’s T Parivallal and TVK candidate Ku Pa Krishnan, who was a former AIADMK minister.Though she was not linked to Lalgudi in any manner, (she was a native of Devakottai and resided in Coimbatore) Leema, who declared assets of 1,049 crore, handpicked Lalgudi for its demographic advantage. The segment had a sizable number of Udayar and Christian votes. Despite DMK’s campaign that she was an outsider, Leema won with a comfortable margin.Leema’s son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna had declared the lowest assets among the three—197 crore. In Villivakkam, he took on his friend Karthik Mohan, fielded by DMK. Karthik and he had worked in the same political team during his stint in DMK. Though Karthik had spent months working in neighbouring Anna Nagar, he was fielded in Villivakkam, leaving him with limited time to campaign. Vijay’s rallies in neighbouring Perambur also had a spill-over effect in Villivakkam, boosting Aadhav’s prospects.Jose Charles, meanwhile, had initially wanted to contest alone in all 30 seats in Puducherry. But BJP got him to join the AINRC – BJP alliance and allotted two seats to his party. In Puducherry, Jose Charles was the richest candidate with total declared assets of about 610 crores. He contested in Kamaraj Nagar and won with a margin of about 10,000 votes.(Inputs from Ram Sundaram and Bosco Dominique)
