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With the results of elections to the 15th Legislative Assembly expected on Thursday, the suspense will end on one of the hardest-fought poll battles in Tamil Nadu history.
Voting for 232 of the 234 constituencies were held on May 16. Elections to two – Aravakurichi and Thanjavur – were deferred.
Counting will start at 8 am on Thursday , and the initial trends are expected in about an hour.
Nearly 75 per cent of about six crore voters registered their choice on Monday.
Several players Arrayed in the field are five major players with four chief minister-hopefuls. The ruling AIADMK’s General Secretary J Jayalalithaa will hope to retain power and be sworn in as Chief Minister for the fifth time. The DMK’s nonagenarian patriarch M Karunanidhi is eyeing a sixth shot at power. The Vijayakant-led DMDK is in alliance with the four-party PWF and the Tamil Manila Congress. The PMK’s campaign has been led by former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, who hopes to helm the government. The BJP and DMK ally Congress are also in the fray.
What’s different Tamil Nadu has earned a reputation for anti-incumbency by voting alternately for the AIADMK and the DMK over the last three decades.
Regional parties that normally ally with either Dravidian party have formed a third front, campaigning for change. Tamil Nadu has for too long been in the stranglehold of the AIADMK and the DMK, they said.
The six-party combine led by the DMDK, and the PMK, positioned themselves as ideal alternatives to the two Dravidian parties. The BJP, which is in power at the Centre, highlighted itself as a clean alternative, though it is yet to gain a significant presence in the State.
Without a major anti-incumbency wave, as has been in the past, a number of issues were assumed centre-stage. Prohibition was possibly the single-largest factor, with all parties promising to do away with liquor sale in the State.
It’s still a Dravidian show However, the general perception appears to be that it is still a battle between the AIADMK and the DMK – will Jayalalithaa break the anti-incumbency trend or Karunanidhi set a record becoming the chief minister for the sixth time and also an unbroken record of 13 Assembly wins.
Forecasts of the outcome were mixed ahead: while most exit polls predicted a win for the DMK, one said the AIADMK would return.
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