DMK maintains dominance in Tamil Nadu, bags 22 out of 39 seats

Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha Elections 2024

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) bagged 22 out of 39 seats in Tamil Nadu where it was a three-way race between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (AIADMK) and the INDIA bloc comprising the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Congress and other parties.

DMK-led INDIA alliance won all 39 seats, with DMK securing 22 seats, Congress 9, VCK 2, CPI 2, CPI(M) 2, and MDMK 1. This mirrors 2019 Lok Sabha poll results, where the DMK-led alliance won 38 out of the total 39 seats.

Exit polls had predicted the Congress to get 8-10 seats in the state but it is its INDIA bloc ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) that was tipped to do the heavy lifting for the alliance. The INDIA bloc was expected to get between 36-39 seats in Tamil Nadu.

Exit polls predicted 1-3 seats for the BJP in Tamil Nadu.

In the 2019 election, the first big poll in Tamil Nadu after the departure of two stalwarts J Jayalalitha and M Karunanidhi, the DMK-led alliance won the general elections by getting 38 of 39 seats. The AIADMK had won only one seat, significantly lower than the 37 seats the party had won in 2014.

The DMK-led alliance saw a surge of 27.4 percent votes to 52.15 percent in 2019, while the NDA's vote share dropped by 14.36 percent to 30.56 percent.

In the party's manifesto, DMK-head MK Stalin reiterated that Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and Uniform civil code (UCC) will not be implemented; LPG will be sold for Rs 500, petrol for RS 75 and diesel for Rs 65 Tamil Nadu will not implement National Education Policy and National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET).

While Stalin emerged victorious for the eighth consecutive time since he took charge as the party president in 2018, the stakes are high for him especially with the high decibel battle by BJP along with the party gaining in vote share.

Several key candidates were in the fray across 39 constituencies of Tamil Nadu in the Lok Sabha elections including DMK's Kalanidhi Veeraswamy, BJP's K Annamalai, K. Gopinath of INC, among others.

Among the key constituencies, Chennai South, where urban issues and DMK's influence are central, saw more competition.

Chennai North which is traditionally a stronghold for the DMK, BJP contenders  aimed to make inroads.

BJP state president K Annamalai in Coimbatore aimed to leverage his campaign efforts against DMK's Ganapathy P. Rajkumar and AIADMK's Singai Ramachandran​. However, K Annamalai is defeated by DMK's  Ganapathy Rajkumar with a lead of 1.18 lakh votes.

DMK's Kanimozhi defended her seat against AIADMK's R. Sivasamiy Velumani and Tamil Maanila Congress’s SDR Vijayaseelan​ in Thoothukudi, another key constituency. Kanimozhi won by 3.9 lakh votes.