CHENNAI: The DMK has allotted as many as 19 of the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State to its allies in the upcoming polls. An analysis of the votes polled by these parties in the past shows that except the VCK, none of the allies seems to have secured a decent percentage of votes. Hence, the victory of all these allies would depend heavily on the popularity of the DMK.
In 2014 when the Congress contested the Lok Sabha polls alone, it secured over one lakh votes only in two constituencies and over 50,000 votes only in two constituencies. In all other 35 constituencies, it got less than 50,000 votes.
A party would need at least three lakh votes to win a parliamentary seat and so, the support of the DMK would be very crucial in all nine constituencies that the Congress is now contesting. So is the case of the Left parties.
In 2014, the CPI and CPM formed an alliance among themselves and contested 17 Lok Sabha constituencies. The CPM is now contesting from Coimbatore and Madurai as part of the DMK-led alliance.
In these constituencies, the party secured less than 50,000 votes in 2014 – Coimbatore (34,197) and Madurai (30,216). The CPI is now contesting in Tirupur and Nagapattinam. When the party contested these constituencies in 2014, it secured only 33,331 votes in Tirupur and 90,313 votes in Nagapattinam.
The firebrand leader Vaiko’s MDMK is now contesting in Erode as part of the DMK alliance. In 2016 Assembly polls, the People’s Welfare Alliance, in which the MDMK was a vital player, secured a total of only 47,174 in the six Assembly constituencies that constitute the Erode Lok Sabha seat. The MDMK itself contested in Erode (west) Assembly constituency and secured only 6,624 votes.
The case of smaller parties in the DMK alliance is even worse. Indhiya Jananayaka Katchi (IJK), which is now contesting in Perambalur, had contested in three of the Assembly constituencies that form the Perambalur Lok Sabha constituency in 2016 Assembly elections. The votes secured by the party were all in mere three digits.
The Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi is contesting in Namakkal now as part of the DMK alliance. When the party in 2016 contested in the six Assembly constituencies that form the Namakkal Lok Sabha seat, it secured a total of mere 33,740 votes.
The only party, which had secured a decent vote share is the VCK. For example, in 2016, the party’s leader Thol Thirumavalavan secured 48,363 votes in the Kattumannarkoil Assembly seat alone. Similarly, in many of the Assembly segments falling under the Villupuram and Chidambaram Lok Sabha constituencies, the PWA, of which VCK was part, had secured at least 19,000 votes.