Chief Minister of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK) party leader J.Jayalalithaa, right, arrives in a vehicle to cast her vote at a polling station in Chennai on Monday. The Vijayakanth-led third front was facing decimation. “My party and I are indebted to the people of Tamil Nadu for giving this historic victory”, a beaming Jayalalithaa said even as hundreds of supporters swarmed her house. A possible Jayalalithaa win also breaks the tradition of DMK and AIDMK ruling Tamil Nadu alternately. With DMK Congress alliance leading in 69 zones, the party is leading in 132 constituencies.
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A total of 3,776 candidates are in the fray in 234 constituencies with RK Nagar seat topping the list with 45 nominees including chief minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa in the fray.
Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2016 Results – Jayalalitha CM Post regained. With this, Congress victories two seats in Puducherry, leads in another two.
The Election Commission should adopt some of the practices introduced by the Indian Election Commission in the recent Tamil Nadu state election to check election violations including phantom voters. “It was the money power that won in the 2016 assembly elections”. Film stars in Kerala and Tamil Nadu turned out in strength to exercise their franchise.
Adding weight to the exit poll predictions is the high voter turnout yesterday despite inclement weather and heavy rainfall in several parts of Tamil Nadu yesterday.
As of now, Amma’s AIADMK is seen to be leading over the congress-DMK alliance after few rounds of counting. In Madurai central constituency, the chief polling officer in a booth was replaced after she allegedly misled a visually-challenged voter to vote for a person not of his choice.
AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa pledged an increase in financial assistance to pregnant women and also a state-wide expansion of special health schemes for female patients, now restricted to few districts. Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK is in a slight lead over Karunanidhi’s DMK.
While smaller parties had strained every nerve to challenge the stranglehold of the ruling AIADMK and the DMK in the run-up to the Assembly elections, results of five exit polls conducted by different agencies indicated that the third front would remain on the fringes after May 19. Even in the seven seats allotted to alliance parties, they contested on the AIADMK’s Two Leaves symbol.
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DMK heavyweight Durai Murugan retained Katpadi, defeating S R K Appu of AIADMK by a margin of 23,946 votes.
