Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu: AIADMK lostes 59% vote share

CHENNAI: Apart from the ignominy of a virtual rout in the Lok Sabha polls, the AIADMK has also suffered a 59% drop in its vote share compared to the 2014 polls. The party, which contested in 21 seats (including one seat from where an alliance partner contested on AIADMK symbol), has secured just 18.48% votes — its worst in 47 years. Under J Jayalalithaa, the party got 44.92% votes and won 37 of 39 seats in the 2014 polls.
Even when the party did not win a single seat in the 1996 and 2004 Lok Sabha elections, its vote share was above 25%. The DMK polled 32.76% votes this time, a 8.85% jump from what it secured contesting alone in the last LS polls. The DMK contested in 20 seats and fielded four allies on its symbol in the current poll and all the 24 emerged victorious.

Except in 2014, the AIADMK has shared 40% to 50% of the seats with its allies, but had managed to maintain a vote share of 25% to 30%. Hence the argument that the party fared poorly because of contesting in fewer seats in the current polls, too, does not hold. “The main reason for the drop in vote share is the anti-incumbency wave against the BJP government,” said political analyst Badri Seshadri.
“Because of the anti-Modi mood, even neutral voters, who used to vote for the AIADMK in the past, voted for the DMK in this election. Some voted for the MNM and the NTK. The high margin with which the DMK alliance won across the state shows massive consolidation against the AIADMK front,” Seshadri said.
2 Left parties secured 2.4% each
The AIADMK has also been facing an anti-incumbency factor owing to its own government’s poor show.
Contrastingly, even the allies of the DMK had put up a good show. The vote share of the Congress in this election is 12.76%, compared to 4.37% it got contesting in all the 39 seats in 2014. Congress candidates S Jothimani (Karur) and S Thirunavukkarasar (Trichy) won by a margin of more than four lakh votes The two Left parties too secured 2.4% each.
In the AIADMK alliance, the DMDK’s voteshare has plummeted to a new low of 2.19%, compared to 5.91% in 2014. The PMK has managed to maintain its vote share at 5.42%.