No seats won, but Seeman's NTK bags enough votes in Lok Sabha polls to get State party status from Election Commission
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi also got more than 8% votes, and won two seats after contesting as part of the DMK-led INDIA bloc
NTK Chief Seeman
CHENNAI: The Election Commission of India is likely to grant State party recognition to Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK).
The NTK won 8.19% of the votes in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, while the VCK got 8% of the votes and won two seats.
As per election rules, a party should get 8% of votes to get State party recognition. What makes Naam Tamilar Katchi performance particularly noteworthy is that it contested alone in all 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and secured 8.19% of the votes.
Despite having no allies unlike the main players in the fray, NTK bagged more seats than BJP and its allies in Tiruchy, Kallakurichi, Erode, and Nagapattinam to come in the third position. It even garnered more votes than principal opposition party, AIADMK, in Kanniyakumari. In all the other constituencies, it was at fourth position, and got more than one lakh votes in several of them.
The VCK has won two constituencies - it's president Thol Thirumavalavan from Chidambaram and general secretary D Ravikumar from Villupuram - contesting on the same symbol. It is part of the INDIA bloc.
The NTK and VCK have to submit the details related to the vote percentage to the Election Commission, and the EC will confirm it and give approval for elevating the two outfits as State parties within a period of 15 days to one month, said a Daily Thanthi report.
