Tamil Nadu: Parliamentary elections
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
2014
Amma shows no karuna, ADMK bags 37 of 39 seats
Chennai:
The Times of India May 17 2014
Chennai: Tamil Nadu saw an unprecedented landslide win for the ruling party in the Lok Sabha polls, a result which has wiped DMK out of the national scene. While exit polls had given AIADMK a clear lead, it has belied all projections with a sweep on the third anniversary of the present regime in TN.
Contesting on its own in 39 seats, AIADMK has won 37 seats and emerged the third largest unit in Parliament. The previous best performance by any party in TN had been 31 for Congres in 1962. While extending her best wishes to the new PM, AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa credited the victory to “the beloved people of Tamil Nadu“ and said she hoped the government at the Centre would be friendly to TN.
However, there was disappointment among secondrung leaders in AIADMK who said they missed being part of the Central government despite such an impressive performance. Asked whether her party would lend support to the BJP dispensation, Jayalalithaa said, “The situation does not arise now.“ The scale of the victory in TN was evident from the fact that 19 AIADMK candidates have won by a margin of more than one lakh votes despite being in multi-cornered contests against DMK, Congres and the BJP-led front.
DMK's decimation was evident in that it failed to make an impact even in traditional strongholds of Dalit, Muslim and OBC voters. Former ministers A Raja, Daya nidhi Maran and T R Baalu were among the prominent losers. In Nilgiris, where Raja was routed by a margin of 1.04 lakh votes, another 46,559 votes were polled under NOTA. Maran's Central Chennai polled more than 22,000 NOTA votes. In many seats, DMK emerged third behind the BJP front. DMK president M Karunanidhi said, “We accept the defeat with all humility . But DMK won't wither away .“
Jayalalithaa's recordbreaking win is partly attributed to sound implementation of welfare schemes and her image as a protector of Tamil interests. Despite a loud opposition campaign that harped on a governance deficit amidst power and water shortages, the AIADMK chief was able to blunt the at tack by rolling out schemes and proposals that touched every section.
The only parties that managed to withstand the AIADMK wave were BJP and its ally PMK, which got one seat each. State BJP presi dent Pon Radhakrishnan won from Kanyakumari and PMK's Anbumani Ramadoss from Dharmapuri. Sources said BJP may ensure repre sentation for both at the Cen tre with an eye on the 2016 assembly polls in TN. Congres candidates lost deposits in most seats. Former Union fi nance minister's son Karti Chidambaram was pushed to fourth place in Sivaganga.
The lone seat in Pudu cherry was won by a candidate from AINRC, another al ly of BJP, who defeated Union minister V Narayanasamy . TEAM TOI
