Led by the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) scored a stunning victory in the Lok Sabha elections, winning all 39 seats in the State and the lone seat of Puducherry, defeating many BJP leading lights and tempering the ambitions of the party.
The AIADMK, even with a preliminary estimated vote share of 20.5%, was left with a barren field. For the BJP, a relentless battle against the DMK waged by the State president K. Annamalai citing corruption and inefficiency yielded no dividends in terms of seats, although the party notched up an estimated vote share of 11% in early estimates. There were 6.23 crore registered voters for the poll.
The Congress presence in the Lok Sabha will be bolstered by nine seats from Tamil Nadu, besides DMK's 22, and allies: Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), CPI and CPI (M) won two seats each, and MDMK and IUML one each. The DMK government has been riding a wave of welfarism, represented most visibly by the free bus rides scheme for women, monthly payments to households led by less affluent women, a strong PDS, focus on education through student scholarships and health care access at the doorstep.
For the BJP, the stunning verdict now stands as a formidable obstacle to its plans to soften resistance in Tamil Nadu and expand its vote and seat tally in the Assembly polls due in 2026.
Prime MInister Narendra Modi spoke at campaign rallies in Tamil Nadu sharply attacking dynastic politics, corruption and missed opportunities, and took out a roadshow in central Chennai. He criticised the popular free bus rides scheme as detrimental to the finances of Metro Rail. The 2024 results bettered even on the DMK alliance's landslide 2019 win, in which it got 38 of 39 seats. As the results began firming up, it became clear that the BJP had come a cropper despite a high intensity campaign.
BJP ally Pattali Makkal Katchi's (PMK) high profile candidate Sowmya Anbumani, wife of former Union Minister Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, lost to the DMK's A. Mani in a keen contest in Dharmapuri.In Virudhunagar, Vijayaprabhakaran, sonof late actor and DMDK leader Vijayakanth (allied with the AIADMK), was trounced by Manickam Tagore of the Congress. Another prominent candidate defeated was actor Radhika Sarathkumar, a recent entrant to the BJP, also in Virudhunagar.
DMK winners included M. Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi (Thoothukudi), Dayanidhi Maran (Central Chennai) and TR Baalu (Sriperumbudur). Tamil Nadu proved, again, to be an outlierfor the BJP, rebuffing its attempts to make fresh in roads by fielding leaders: Union Minister L. Murugan in Nilgiris (SC) against former Minister A. Raja (DMK), Tamilisai Soundararajan who quit the governorship of Telangana (and Lt. Governorship of Puducherry) to contest from South Chennai, and another former Minister, Pon Radhakrishnan in Kanyakumari. Annamalai, nursing hopes of a win, suffered defeat in Coimbatore to DMK, but did better than AIADMK.
The AIADMK under the leadership of Edappadi Palaniswamy ultimately ended up with no seats in a three-cornered contest. Jayalalithaa used the rallying cry in the 2014 poll, "Do you want this Tamil Nadu lady or Gujarat's Modi?" Since her passing in 2016, in the absence of a mass leader, the AIADMK fragmented. The faction of TTV Dinakaran, the AMMK, and that of former Chief Minister O. Paneerselvam (OPS) could not put up a united front, and the dominant group rejected their re-entry into the party that secured the AIADMK's two-leaves symbol, which has special significance for many voters.
Dinakaran's faction joined the BJP alliance in the current poll but had gone on its own five years ago. Makkal Neethi Maiam, actor Kamal Hasan's party, did not contest but he campaigned actively for INDIA candidates statewide.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, one member of the OPS faction, O.P. Ravindranath won from Theni. He went on to praise Narendra Modi effusively. OPS was the fray in Ramanathapuram this time as an independent, backed solidly by the BJP. Annamalai campaigned with the message that OPS was the Prime Minister's chosen candidate. Paneerselvam did better than the AIADMK in the seat, justas the party had feared, but still fell short ofthe winner, IUML's K. Navaskani (INDIA alliance).
The writer is a senior journalist.
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