Chennai, May 2 (UNI) Having crossed the simple majority mark,
by establishing leads in 120 of the 234 Assembly seats on its
own and the alliance led by it leading in 141 seats, the main
Opposition DMK in Tamil Nadu is poised to return to power
after a ten year hiatus.
The ruling AIADMK, which has been aiming for a hat-trick of
wins after it bucked the trend and won the polls in 2016, is
leading in 81 seats and the front headed by it was ahead
in a total of 92 seats.
Actor-politician Kamal Haasan of the nascent Makkal Needhi
Maiyam (MNM) is leading in Coimbatore South, while it was
trailing at third or fourth places in a majority of seats.
Single phase polling was held on April six for 234 seats to elect
the 16th Tamil Nadu Assembly, besides bypoll to the Kanyakumari
Lok Sabha seat.
In the bypoll to Kanyakumari seat--caused by the death of Congress
MP H Vasanthakumar due to corona, his son Vijay Vasanth was
leading by a good margin of over 70,000 votes against former Union
Minister Pon Radhakrishnan of BJP.
In the Assembly polls, the DMK, right from the beginning, got a clear
edge over the AIADMK as it crossed the magic mark of 118 on its own
to form the next government after a gap of ten years, with its allies too
faring well.
Reacting to the results, DMK President M K Stalin said the counting
trends indicated that the party was leading in a majority of the
constituencies confirming that the DMK is going to form the next
government in Tamil Nadu.
In a statement here, he said the a new era is going to begin in the
annals of the DMK and appealed to the party cadres to avoid
celebrations and bursting of crackers, citing the covid pandemic,
and protect themselves and the Nation.
Of the trends available for all the 234 seats, the DMK-led
alliance was leading in 141 seats--DMK (120), Congress (14),
VCK (3), CPI and CPI(M) two each.
The AIADMK-led combine was leading in 92 seats--AIADMK (81),
PMK (6) and BJP (5), while MNM is leading in the other remaining
seat.
As of now the trends indicate the repeat of the 2016 numbers
with the DMK and the AIADMK swapping places. In 2016, the
AIADMK won 136 seats and the DMK-led alliance 98.
All top leaders including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi
K Palaniswami (Edappadi), Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam
(Bodinayakanur), DMK President M K Stalin (Kolathur), his son
and DMK Youth Wing leader Udhayanidhi (Chepauk-Tiruvallikeni),
BJP State President L Murugan (Dharapuram-R), Ministers, Kamal
Haasan (Coimbatore South) and senior DMK leaders and former
Ministers are leading in their respective constituencies.
The DMK is also all set to storm the capital city of Chennai
leading in all 16 constituencies, with Mr Stalin leading the
party’s charge at Kolathur--from where he is seeking a third
win--having gained a lead of more than 10,000 votes against
his AIADMK rival Adhi Rajaram.
The DMK was leading in 15 seats in Chennai and the lone Congress
candidate Haasan Maulana was leading at Velachery against the
AIADMK candidate.
Udhayanidhi Stalin was leading at Chepauk-Tiruvallikeni, while
the high profile contest at Thousand Lights saw DMK’s Dr.Ezhilan
establishing a big lead of more than 10,000 votes over actor and
BJP candidate Khushbu Sundar.
UNI GV 1540