TIRUCHY: When a young diploma holder working in Chennai came to Jayankondam to cast his vote in the 6th April assembly election, he told this reporter that he was going to vote for the Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK). Back then it was a surprise as he was earlier an ardent supporter of the PMK.
The election results which emerged on Sunday showed that Seeman's NTK has grown as the third largest party with over 6.5 percent as per initial reports.
Contrary to the popular conception that NTK would split the DMK vote bank favouring AIADMK, 2021 election results have proved other way round.
For instance, in the Thiruvottiyur assembly constituency where Seeman contested he polled 48, 597 votes to finish third while the AIADMK candidate Kuppan secured 50, 524 votes.
The votes bagged by Seeman spoiled the AIADMK's winning chances as the Dravidian party, in the 2016 election at the same constituency, secured 77, 347 votes.
Similarly, many popular faces including the ministers faced electoral drubbing because of the votes taken away by the NTK in this election.
The outgoing minister V Saroja from Rasipuram constituency suffered a defeat by a slender margin of 1, 952 votes to the DMK candidate. The votes secured by the NTK here proved costly as they got 11,295 votes. The NTK, in 2016, polled 2,076 votes in the constituency.
Likewise, outgoing minister K C Veeramani lost to the DMK candidate by a margin of 1091 votes at Jolarpet, where NTK got 13, 328 votes.
AIADMK's chief government whip Thamarai S Rajendran, who was instrumental in saving the Edappadi K Palaniswami's government, could not retain his Ariyalur seat by a margin of 3,234 votes. The NTK candidate here secured 12, 346.
In Thoothukudi, the AIADMK in 2016 polled 67137 votes. However, its votes drastically reduced to 42, 004 votes in the 2021 election whereas NTK's votes increased from 3733 to 30937 votes.
Such was the case in urban constituencies like Ambattur and Perambur where AIADMK votes reduced by a margin of around 20,000 votes from 2016 to 2021 elections. On the other hand, NTK votes in these segments have increased its votes to the same proportions.
NTK votes did not leave affecting the AIADMK candidates' winning prospects. BJP and PMK candidates also lost in several segments due to the votes split by the NTK.
The popular BJP candidate H Raja lost the Karaikudi seat to the INC candidate Mangudi to the margin of 21, 589 votes. Here, the NTK polled 23, 872 votes now compared to 5344 votes in 2016. At Karaikudi, AMMK also polled a significant 44864 votes.
At Jayankondam, PMK's popular face advocate K Balu lost to DMK's Kannan by a margin of 5452 votes. NTK candidate has taken away 9, 956 votes.
Going by what this reporter experienced from the diploma holder, PMK could have polled more votes if NTK was not a factor.
Aravind, the diploma holder, speaking to TNIE, said "Many of my friends in my working place in Chennai are admirers of Seeman. I know personally that many PMK youth are gravitating towards NTK now after listening to his speeches on YouTube. I do not know whether what he says is practical. But listening to his speeches stirs me up."
When asked about this factor, Kalaiyarasan A, author of the book Dravidian Model said, “ In 2016, NTK could have been a spoiler for the DMK. But, in this election, there are chances that NTK ate into AIADMK alliance votes to some extent, as these voters, mostly first-time graduates among others, are exercising their franchise for the first time.Traditionally, a large section of these voters did not favour DMK in the past elections. First-time graduates who migrated to urban spaces from villages are facing some sort of difficulties at their workplaces due to cultural diversity. This section finds solace in Seeman’s speeches as he asserts nativism by fantasising villages and Tamil traditions. So, this section that is sceptical to modernity is seeing Seeman as an alternative.”