LS polls: AIADMK under EPS continues its losing streak in electoral politics

CHENNAI:The AIADMK's losing streak continues under Edappadi K Palaniswami's leadership. More than losing all seats it contested, the party has been pushed to third and fourth places in more than 10 constituencies in the state and neighbouring Puducherry.

The poll results once again put up a serious question over the leadership and its strategy as the rank and files of the Dravidian major expressed concern over the party's performance in 12 out of the 32 seats it contested. The party's vote share witnessed a slight margin as it increased from 19.3% in 2019 polls to 20.5% in this polls. When compare to the party's performance in 2014 polls, under the leadership of then party supremo J Jayalalithaa, the voting percentage had declined by 24% from 44.92%. The party contested on its own in the poll and won 37 out of 38 constituencies.

However, the party lost the single seat, Theni, that it won in the 2019 polls as the DMK-led INDIA bloc swept the poll and registered a massive victory. In most of the constituencies, the AIADMK handed down a heavy defeat with a margin ranging between 1.5 lakh to 2.5 lakh.

Singai G Ramachandran of the AIADMK was pushed to third position in Coimbatore, which was considered as a stronghold of the AIADMK, by the DMK candidate DMK P Ganapathy Rajkumar. Ramachandran secured 1.71 lakh votes less than state BJP leader K Annamalai, who secured 3.52 lakh votes. It came as a jolt to the AIADMK leadership and sympathisers.

Senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar's son and former MP J Jayavardhan faced a similar fate in Chennai South Constituency. The BJP candidate and former Lt Governor of Puducherry Tamilisai Soundararajan secured more than 95,000 votes than Jayavardhan and pushed him to third position, while the sitting MP of DMK Thamizhachi Thangapandian romped home with a victory margin of 1.50 lakh votes.

Apart from Coimbatore and Chennai South constituencies, the party relegated to third position in Madurai, Ramanathapuram, Theni, Vellore, The Nilgiris, and Tirunelveli, and Dharmapuri constituencies. It pushed to fourth spot in Kanyakumari and the lone seat in Puducherry as Seeman's NTK performed better than the AIADMK in these constituencies. This called the leadership to introspect its strategy to remain as a force to reckon with in the Dravidian land.

"The party leader took a bold decision to exit the BJP-led alliance and stick to it despite a lot of pressure. He took out a spirited campaign. We expected a better performance, but the result was really shocking. This is time to relook into it and revise our strategy, " said a party functionary from Thevar belt, preferrying anonymity.

The estranged AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam camp expressed similar disappointment over their leader's defeat in Ramanathapuram constituency and said the AIADMK under the "single leadership of EPS" has registered failure in the electoral politics for the consecutive ninth time. "The election results showed the mirror to EPS and his coterie what will happen when one puts himself over the party and its future, " said former MLA A Subburathinam.

Political critic Tharasu Shyam said that this poll results are a clear indication that the AIADMK leadership would relook into their strategy. "Though there is no alternative for EPS in the party at present, he should understand that he is not MGR or Jayalalithaa. So, he should reconsider his strategy and work towards uniting the AIADMK to reinforce the party. It is a doctrine of necessity, " he said.

Estranged AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam and AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, who joined hands with the in Ramanathapuram and Theni constituencies end up losing in Thevar belt, but eat into the AIADMK vote banks