Tamil Nadu LS poll results: Dip in vote share shows need for self-study by DMK

CHENNAI: The victorious DMK could do well to cut down on its celebrations over its alliance winning 40/40 victory. The ruling party might have trumped the opposition in all 39 Parliamentary seats, but it must seriously self-introspect on the BJP emerging runner up in around half a dozen seats and that too after reducing the AIADMK to a distant third in most or even fourth.

The sprouting of the ‘Lotus’ and the spirited campaign of Edappadi K Palaniswami also must give a reason for the DMK to return to the drawing room and rework its politics and administration. Even jubilant party insiders reluctantly admitted that the marginal decline in the vote share, which is largely attributed to the lower number of seats contested, was as much related to party and government’s popularity than rejection of opposition’s narrative.

“Indeed, the cadre were within their rights to celebrate for decimating the opposition, but it is also the time to analyse if we are serious about 2026 Assembly polls. CM MK Stalin is extremely popular and his government is largely controversy free, but the excesses of the party lower level leaders, mainly councillors, is a negating force. The leadership must work on reducing the anti-incumbency level to brighten the prospects of the party for the next Assembly poll,” admitted a DMK senior on anonymity.

Political commentator and senior journalist K Gubendiran says, “Schemes like Rs 1,000 monthly honorarium, free breakfast for school children and bus travel have definitely made the government very popular and CM Stalin’s ratings are very high. But, the high command must reign in the elected representatives of the party and reduce corruption if it is serious about reducing anti-incumbency.”

Suggesting that it was equally important to redress the grievances of government employees, especially health staff and teachers, Gubendiran said that the state must evolve a mechanism to pacify the staff even if it could not deliver on old pension scheme promise.

Organisationally, the DMK has also been pulled back by the centralisation of power. It might do well to divide party districts further to democratise power and fulfil the aspirations of the functionaries struggling at the lower level due to overpowering district secretaries, he added.

The apprehensions could not be overlooked if one were to examine the political landscape of its half a dozen low-margin seats. The low margins seats like Namakkal (contested by ally KMDK), Salem, Dharmapuri and Kallakurichi are from the western region, where the party has traditionally fared badly in the Assembly polls.