Coimbatore: Challenging political giants, several professionals, industrialists and activists had contested as independent candidates in the state assembly election in the district.
Several of them made a splash, toiled and made tall promises during the campaign. Even though many of them were confident of attending assembly sessions, the ground reality differed at large as voters seem to prefer political candidates to them.
Of the 137 candidates, who contested from Coimbatore district, as many as 65 about 47% of them had contested as independents. While constituencies like Singanallur, Coimbatore North, Coimbatore South and urban segments of the district had more than 10 independents, the number of independents in rural segments like Pollachi and Valparai was low.