Polls turn a report card for Dravidian majors sans their giants

While the DMK-led front claimed victory in 37 of the 38 parliamentary seats in the State, and won 13 of 22 seats in the State’s by-elections, experts say that Stalin also had an advantage in these elections such as anti-incumbency against the BJP led by Narendra Modi, absence of the late AIADMK supremo, J. Jayalalithaa, and a marginal split of AIADMK votes by the entry of rebel candidate Dhinakaran, who came full-fledged in the poll fray. 

The party, which had garnered a vote share of 57.4% in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls against the AIADMK’s figure of 34.84%, has come a long way since then. The DMK had won all the 38 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu. 

The DMK, under the leadership of Karunanidhi, continued its momentum in the 2006 Assembly elections, getting a vote share of 44% compared to AIADMK’s vote share of 39%. However, due to a massive win in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections by the AIADMK, the DMK could grab only 37% vote share against its rival figure of 42.54%. 

The DMK fared slightly well in the 2011 Assembly polls where it could raise a marginal vote share of 39.5%. The DMK’s vote share further fell down to 26.8% due to a massive win by the AIADMK under the leadership of Jayalalithaa in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. 

However, in 2016, the DMK could increase its vote share to 40% as against the AIADMK’s figure of just 41%. In the Parliamentary elections that concluded on April 18 this year in the State, the DMK, which secured a massive victory, secured a vote share of 32.76% as against the AIADMK’s figure of 18.48%. 

Pallavaram DMK MLA I Karunanidhi said that the victory of his party was seen as a major boost to the party cadre, who did not sense a big victory since the 2004 Lok Sabha elections fought under UPA’s first regime. “In 2016, while the polls were led by Stalin since Karunanidhi was bed-ridden, the unexpected defeat in the Assembly elections to the AIADMK-then led by J Jayalalithaa-created a big question mark about the DMK’s top leadership. 

However, he (Stalin) worked hard at the grassroots level such as making continuous tour campaigns even to rural areas,” says Manivanan, former professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration. K Arumugam, a political observer, said that the DMK secured the huge win after 2004 where the party secured all the Lok Sabha seats under the leadership of Karunanidhi. 

“During that time, people also wished to vote for Congress, which came handy for the DMK, who allied the national party”, he added.