Chennai: Proving exit polls wrong, J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK on Thursday triumphed in Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2016.
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A large number of party cadres thronged Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence area and the party headquarters.
Tamil Nadu: Trends- (198/234) DMK leading in 81 seats, while AIADMK ahead on 115.
Contesting under the “two leaves” symbol of AIADMK, Sarathkumar secured only 62,356 votes against Radhakrishnan who claimed victory with 88,357 votes.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, set to create history by becoming the first ever leader to retain power in the state since 1989, is leading by over 15,000 votes in Dr RK Nagar constituency in the city.
Polling was postponed in two constituencies by the Election Commission. 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. She said the exit polls that predicted a DMK victory were irrelevant.
Vijayakanth was trailing from the third round itself, while the leader of Dalit party VCK, Thol Thirumavalavan, fell at the last round. The alliance is headed by M Karunanidhi, who is 93, and has said he plans to serve as Chief Minister.
Shares of Sun TV Network tumbled over 13 per cent today after Tamil Nadu belied several exit poll predictions by handing a handsome victory to the ruling AIADMK led by Jayalalithaa.
The DMDK failed to score this time, down from the 29 it had bagged in alliance with the AIADMK in 2011.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIAMDK party was ahead of the DMK as officials counted the millions of votes polled to pick a new 234-member assembly, officials said.
On the other hand Raj Television Network Ltd, a rival television network based in Tamil Nadu that is unconnected with the leading parties, saw its stock up 17 per cent to Rs 71.80 at 9.20 on the BSE.
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Finally, the People’s Welfare Front, an alliance of six parties (Dalit party VCK, CPI, CPI(M), Vaiko’s MDMK, Vijaykanth’s DMDK and Tamil Manila Congress) sought to offer an alternative to the Dravidian duo, but ended up both being washed out and moving votes away from the DMK.
