Jayalalithaa, AIADMK headed for historic win in Tamil Nadu
AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa is on a near-unassailable course for a historic win in Tamil Nadu. If she goes through with her likely win, she will become the first Chief Minister in 32 years to be voted back to power in Tamil Nadu.
For the second election in a row, Jayalalithaa has benefitted immensely from a fractured political field. She has fought the polls alone, leaving no alliance options for smaller parties, to whom the DMK remains anathema.
Jayalalithaa’s impending victory would also come in the face of what many perceived to be a late anti-incumbency wave that shifted momentum in favour of the DMK. The DMK however has never won elections against the AIADMK without an umbrella alliance.
Relegating a majority of exit polls to the ash heap, Jayalalithaa’s party led in 140 seats around 11 am. By contrast, the DMK, which had been slated to win the polls by four of the five non-partisan exit polls, led in 80 constituencies.
The DMDK alliance with the Peoples Welfare Front (PWF) led in 2 constituencies. However, the DMDK-PWF combine’s CM candidate Vijaykant trailed in third place, over 9000 votes behind the AIADMK and DMK candidates.
Others led in 7 constituencies, out of which the PMK led in some and the BJP led in one constituency.
Jayalalithaa has walloped western Tamil Nadu, leading in 41 of the 57 seats. This was the region where the DMDK-PWF was hoping to make a dent considering the DMDK’s support base here. She also stormed southern Tamil Nadu and the Cauvery Delta, leading in 35 of 58 and 22 of 39 respectively.
In northern Tamil Nadu, where the DMK is considered very strong, the AIADMK was neck-and-neck, leading in 37 of the 78 seats.
Around 11 am, the AIADMK dominated the vote share estimates, bagging a whopping 41.7 percent to the DMK’s 30.2. Congress had received 6.7 percent and PMK 5.7 percent, while the DMDK sank to a fourth of previous tallies with just 2.3 percent, on par with the BJP.
The last Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to be voted back to power was the legendary MG Ramachandran, better known as MGR. MGR was truly unassailable; his party never lost an election as long as he was alive.
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