Since the death of MGR, the government of Tamil Nadu has been alternating between the DMK, led by Karunanidhi, and the AIADMK, led by Jayalalithaa.
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The Sonia-Rahul-led Congress party lost the elections to BJP in Assam and to Left Front in Kerala.
A number of exit polls on May 17 predicted a win for the DMK-Congress alliance in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections, but that didn’t happen.
Within hours of the trend indicating her victory, Jayalalithaa read out a statement, expressing her indebtedness to the people for reposing faith in her. “I believed in God and had an alliance with the people”.
In another release, AIADMK headquarters said party chief Jayalalithaa would garland the statues of rationalist leader Periyar EVR and late Chief Ministers CN Annadurai and her party founder MG Ramachandran today afternoon.
The AIADMK crossed halfway mark and is all set to form government in Tamil Nadu for the second consecutive time.
In the current election assembly elections, out of 27 ministers who contested, 19 were re-elected and there are rumours that only 14 of them may be inducted in the cabinet. An election that many experts, pollsters and politicians thought would be a close call has thrown up a decisive mandate, giving the AIADMK a majority win. Those retiring are A. Navaneethakrishnan, A.W. Rabi Bernard and P.H. Paul Manoj Pandian of the AIADMK; K.P. Ramalingam and S. Thangavelu of the DMK; and former Union Minister Sudarsana Natchiappan of the Congress.
AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa had promised prohibition in phases, free power supply, waiver of students and power loans. The Election Commission postponed elections in Thanjavur and Aravakurichi constituencies after complaints of large-scale distribution of money to voters by various political parties and their candidates. Ms Jayalalithaa will be sworn in as Chief Minister on Monday at the Centenary Auditorium of the University of Madras, where she was sworn in previous year.
Elections for the 232 of the total 234 constituencies were held on May 16.
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The Congress, which allied with the DMK, has bagged eight seats, up three seats from 2011.
