Even though the DMK-led alliance swept the Lok Sabha polls in the State, it was not able to replicate the performance in nine Assembly constituencies.
A queer pattern has emerged from these constituencies. Most of the Assembly constituencies came under the Lok Sabha constituencies allotted to the alliance partners in the AIADMK front, indicating that the ruling party benefited from the vote transfer from its allies. While the DMK and its allies polled more votes in these constituencies in the Lok Sabha polls, the voting pattern seems to have changed when it came to the Assembly constituencies.
“The AIADMK leadership concentrated only on the Assembly constituencies since it was a do-or-die battle for it. They even went to the extent of telling voters to vote for the AIADMK in the Assembly constituencies, while leaving the choice to them in the Lok Sabha,” claimed a former DMK Minister from the southern district.
The DMK lost Harur and Pappirettipatti Assembly constituencies covered under the Dharmapuri Lok Sabha constituency, allotted to the PMK.
Lost constituencies
In the south, the DMK failed to win the Sattur Assembly constituency, even though Congress’s Manickam Thakur won from the Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituency. Similarly, DMK’s Kanimozhi won the Thoothukudi Lok Sabha constituency, while her party could not bag the Vilathikulam Assembly segment. Thoothukudi was allotted to the BJP and the party’s state president Tamilisai Soundararajan contested unsuccessfully from there.
Sulur is another constituency that went in favour of the ruling AIADMK. The constituency comes under the Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency, allotted to the BJP in the AIADMK alliance. Congress candidate Karti P. Chidambaram won the Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency, but the DMK could not win the Manamadurai Assembly constituency.
The DMK also failed to win the Paramakudi Assembly segment in the Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency. Former AIADMK Minister Nainar Nagendran, who defected to the BJP, contested from the constituency.
The same trend was witnessed in Nilakottai Assembly segment in the Dindigul Lok Sabha constituency. The DMK won the Lok Sabha after a gap of 39 years with huge margin of over five lakh votes, but lost the Assembly segment with a margin of 20,675 votes.
In the North, former Union Minister and DMK candidate S. Jagathratchagan won with a substantial margin from the Arakkonam Lok Sabha constituency, by defeating PMK’s A.K Moorthy. But the DMK lost the Sholingar Assembly segment with a margin of 16,056 votes.
