R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, JUNE 4
Thanks to the meticulous strategy of DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Dr Kalaignar’s Centenary Year turned out to be lucky for the INDIA bloc. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance has repeated history as they have won all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in this Lok Sabha polls. Though NDA ally Pattali Makkal Katchi was leading in Dharmapuri, DMK led by a margin of over 11,000 votes during the final rounds of counting.
The lead was decisive and in favour of the DMK-led alliance from initial rounds of counting, except in Namakkal, Virudhunagar and Dharmapuri constituencies. While AIADMK candidate S. Tamilmani led for a few rounds in Namakkal, Kongu Makkal Desiya Katchi candidate V.S. Matheswaran, contesting in DMK’s ‘rising sun’ symbol, led by over 19,000 votes when 11 rounds of counting were completed.
It was a close fight between Desiya Murpoku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK)’s V. Vijayaprabhakaran and Congress’s Manickam Tagore in the Virudhunagar constituency. DMDK is part of the AIADMK-led alliance, the only other p lace where the state’s opposition was leading. However, after noon, things turned in favour of Tagore and he led by 6,925 votes. AIADMK-led opposition in the state is trailing in all seats in Tamil Nadu and the Dravidan party has ended up without a face in 18th Lok Sabha.
With Bharatiya Janata Party’s stalwart and State President K. Annamalai trailing in Coimbatore, the NDA pinned hopes on Dharmapuri, where ally Pattali Makkal Katchi’s candidate Sowmiya Anbumani was leading from the beginning of counting of votes. However, DMK’s G. Mani led in the final rounds of counting.
Contrary to exit polls predicting a breakthrough for the BJP with three to five seats in the state, the DMK-led INDIA alliance has decimated BJP and AIADMK. BJP’s sole victory in the state was in 2014 when Pon Radhakrishnan won in Kannyakumari. By 2019, the party’s vote share had dropped to 3.66 percent.
While its vote bank seem to be intact, the AIADMK has been pushed to the third position by the BJP in constituencies like Chennai South, Chennai Central, Vellore, Dharmapuri, Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli, and Kannyakumari.
The DMK-led alliance comprises the Congress, Left parties, Dalit groups, and minority parties.
Tamil Nadu’s voter turnout this year was 69.72 percent.
