The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu and its alliance partners have won nine seats while leading in 30 more seats, accounting for all the seats in the state and leaving nothing for the Opposition, on Tuesday. Also, the Stalin-led DMK combine kept BJP at bay by not letting them win any seat.
DMK, at the time of writing this copy, has polled nearly 27 per cent votes and its main ally Congress garnered nearly 11 per cent. With the combined voteshare of about 38 per cent, the INDIA bloc swept the entire state. The vote-transfer helped the national INDIA bloc here mop up nearly all the seats. Congress is locked in a tough fight in Virudhunagar Lok Sabha seat with the AIADMK's alliance partner - Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam.
The principal Opposition AIADMK managed to poll over 20 per cent but was not able to open its Lok Sabha tally this time, while it managed to send one to the Lower House during the 2019 election.
Former IAS officer and bureaucrat Sasikanth Senthil, who fought on a Congress ticket, was leading by nearly 5.7 lakh votes and appears to have gained the highest margin. He was on course to register his victory in his maiden poll plunge.
His party colleague Manickam Tagore B was maintaining a slender lead of few thousand voters against his nearest rival, Vijayaprabhakaran of the DMDK.
Another bureaucrat turned politician and BJP state unit chief K Annamalai finished second in Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat, polling nearly a lakh less as per the Election Commission.
The DMK contested in 21 seats while its ally contested in its symbol in one of the seats. Congress fought in nine seats.
DMK deputy general secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi who sought a reelection from Thoothukudi seat, won with a comfortable margin of 3.9 lakh votes.
Former Minister A Raja polled 4,73,212 votes which was 2,40,585 more than his nearest rival and Union Minister of State L Murugan. His party colleague and erstwhile cabinet colleague, Dayanidhi Maran won with a margin of nearly 2.5 lakh votes.
Stalin, speaking to reporters from the party headquarters - Anna Arivalayam, thanked the denizens of the state. He said he was dedicating this victory to late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister took aim at Modi and reiterated that "the anti-Modi wave is palpable." This victory is historic. It trumped BJP's money power and abuse of power," he said. He accused the saffron party of attempting to create an impression of having no electoral rivals with its 400 seats slogan. "They claimed to win over 400 seats but it could not even get a simple majority on its own," he said.
Former CM and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami discredited the results, claiming that it was on expected lines. He charged the ruling party of employing 'money power,' 'fake propaganda,' and 'conspiracy' to win the election. The lessons learnt in this election will serve us to face the 2026 Assembly polls, the AIADMK leader said, adding that, "We will get massive victory in the Assembly polls."
Former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who is contesting as an independent candidate, polled 3,42,882 votes. The BJP ally was trailing the DMK ally IUML's K Navaskani. The latter polled 5,09,664 votes, at 9.45 pm.
Till 9.50 pm, of the 39 seats results were officially declared only for 17 seats, as per the EC website. DMK and allies are the winners and are leading in the rest of 22 seats.
