DMDK continues abysmal run, draws a blank

After being denied entry into the AIADMK alliance, DMDK moved to the AMMK camp and contested in 60 seats. However, in none of the constituencies, DMDK was able to get even the deposit and stands the chance of losing its status as a recognised state party in Tamil Nadu.

Founded in 2005, DMDK contested its first election in 2006 in all the 234 constituencies without allying with any parties and obtained a whopping 8.4 percentage, although the party won only in a single seat -- the Virudhachalam constituency. The performance of the party witnessed a peak in the 2009 Parliament election as the party obtained 10.3 percentage votes but failed to get a single seat for not aligning with any party.

However, in 2011, the party aligned with AIADMK and obtained 29 seats out of 41 allotted with a 7.9 per cent vote share and became the principal opposition party. The relationship between AIADMK and DMDK was short-lived as in 2014 DMDK aligned with the BJP but failed to win any seat with 5.1 per cent votes.

In 2016, DMDK contested 104 constituencies as part of the People Welfare Alliance (PWA) but failed to get even a single seat. Their voting percentage also went down to 2.4 percentage. In the 2019 Parliament election, DMDK contested in four seats but failed to get even a single seat with 2.2 percentage votes.