Adaikkalanathan, Deputy Chairman of Committees, Parliament, wished Jayalalithaa good health, personal well-being and success in all her endeavours. “I take this opportunity to congratulate Selvi (MS) J Jayalalithaa (sic)”, he said in a tweet. Belying exit and pre-poll surveys, she became the first chief minister to bag a successive term in office since 1989, albeit with a reduced majority compared to 150 seats the AIADMK had won in 2011.
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Chennai: History was been made in Tamil Nadu.
Sun TV shares sank 10 per cent on Thursday, after ruling AIADMK established a firm lead in early rounds of counting in Tamil Nadu. AIADMK spokesperon and actress C R Saraswathi lost to I E Karunanithi of DMK by 9,205 votes. Probably the exit polls were based on those districts where the DMK has wrested the seats from the AIADMK, hence the exponential figures went wrong. Female voters outstripped men by more than 4 lakhs this time, and while many parties tried to mobilise them with talk of prohibition, it is valuable to remember that they form the traditional vote bank of the AIADMK.
In the run up to polls, she had appealed to the people to vote against the family rule of DMK and support her party to nurture democracy.
This time there will be a stronger Opposition DMK, which won 71 seats and was leading in another 18. Jayalalithaa’s winning margin in R.K. Nagar came down from a whopping 1.5 lakh (in the May 2015 byelection) to just about 40,000, reflecting the erosion in the AIADMK votes in the city.
Jayalalithaa said she had no other interest in life other than working for the betterment of Tamil Nadu. Congress won one seat and is leading in seven. It is seen that both the parties are going in a head-to-head battle.
The result is significant as Tamil Nadu is not known for electing the same party or alliance againt.
“The PMK will jolt others in the 2016 assembly elections”, Dhanaraju added. They did not even open their account.
The outcome of the elections showed the third front of DMDK-PWF-TMC, Pataali Makkal Katchi and BJP were nowhere in the reckoning as the people rejected their bid to project themselves as an alternative to the Dravidian majors DMK and AIADMK.
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In Kerala, the Congress led United Democratic Front was routed, managing to salvage 46 seats of the 73 previously held.
