AIADMK’s allies PMK, DMDK draw a blank in 2019 Lok Sabha polls

KALLAKURICHI/DHARMAPURI: The DMDK which bargained hard for more seats and, that too, of its choice with the ruling AIADMK, and the main opposition DMK, drew a blank in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The party floated by the temperamental actor-turned-politician Vijayakant joined the alliance lead by AIADMK at the eleventh hour after keeping one and all guessing. The ruling party allotted four seats for the DMDK.
However, all the four DMDK candidates lagged far behind its rivals in the polls. The party’s star candidate and deputy general secretary L K Sudhish lost the Kallakurichi parliamentary constituency to DMK candidate Pon Gautham Sigamani. Sigamani, who established a healthy lead in the initial rounds, secured 7,21,713 votes as against Sudhish’s 3,21,794.
DMDK candidate Alagaapuram R Mohanraj (1.28 lakh votes) lost to Kalanidhi Veeraswamy of the DMK (5.87 lakh votes) in Chennai north parliamentary constituency while the other two DMDK candidates -V Elangovan (1.61 lakh votes) and R Alagarsamy (3.15 lakh votes) lost to Congress candidates Su Thirunavukkarasar (6.15 lakh votes) in Trichy parliamentary constituency and B Manickam Tagore (4.64 lakh votes) in Virudhunagar parliamentary constituencies.
The PMK also fared poorly losing all the seven constituencies it contested. The party’s youth wing president and former Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss failed to retain Dharmapuri parliamentary constituency. He lost the polls by more than 50,000 votes to DMK candidate Senthilkumar. The party also lost in the six other constituencies - Chennai central, Sriperumbudur, Arakonam, Villupuram, Dindigul and Cuddalore.