Latest trends in counting show the DMK alliance in the lead in the Tamil Nadu Assembly election results. The party and its allies, including the Congress, are ahead in at least 146 seats, while the ruling AIADMK is up in 86 seats.
In the 234-seat House, a party needs at least 118 seats to win the election. The AIADMK, which has been in power since 2011, hopes to extend its hold on the state for another term. The Opposition DMK, on the other hand, is hoping a mixture of incumbency and instability within the ruling party will allow it to return to the helm of affairs after a decade.
This election is the first in the state without two of Tamil Nadu’s towering political figures, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa. The gap they left in the political arena has given rise to other fronts over the last few years.
While the National Democratic Alliance, led by AIADMK, and Secular Progressive Alliance, led by DMK, hold sway over 70-80 per cent of the voter base, the others in the fray this election included an alliance led by TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) and one by actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM). So far, neither party has significant gains.
Actor Kamal Haasan is all set to enter the Tamil Nadu assembly as the lone legislator of his fledgling Makkal Needhi Maiam leader if the counting trends are to go by.
The actor – politician was ahead of his opponents in Coimbatore South assembly segment.
At the end of the 14th round, Kamal had polled 27,589 votes, 1,189 votes more than his nearest rival Vanathi Srinivasan, BJP’s national president of the women’s wing. (With inputs from Indian Express)