The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Sunday afternoon had a significant lead against other political parties in the state, showed the Election Commission’s data. Tamil Nadu elections were held in a single phase on April 6.
Counting of votes in West Bengal and three other states – Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu – and the Union Territory of Puducherry began at 7:30am BDST. The majority mark in the 234-seat West Bengal Assembly is 118.
As of 12:50pm BDST, the Election Commission’s early trends showed that the DMK was leading in 117 seats and the incumbent All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was ahead in 79. The AIADMK’s ally, Bharatiya Janata Party, was leading in four seats.
The Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was ahead in two seats each. The Indian National Congress had a lead in 12 seats while the Pattali Makkal Katchi, another AIADMK ally, was ahead in 10 seats. The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi was leading in three seats.
The DMK-led front comprises the Congress, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Indian Union Muslim League, the Left parties and other regional parties. The AIADMK is contesting the election in alliance with the BJP, the Pattali Makkal Katchi, the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) and other smaller parties.
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Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami was ahead in his home constituency of Edappadi in Salem district, with a margin of 19,903 votes. The trailing candidate was DMK’s Sambhathkumar T.
However, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam was leading in Bodinayakanur in Theni district, with a thin margin of 350 votes.
The trailing candidate was Thangatamilselvan. In 2016, the deputy chief minister had won in this seat with a margin of 15,608 votes.
Meanwhile, DMK chief MK Stalin was leading in Kolathur the seat against AIADMK’s Aadirajaram with a margin of 3,697 votes.
Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan, who is making his political debut in this election, was ahead in Coimbatore (South) constituency with 534 votes. The trailing candidate was Congress’ Mayura S Jayakumar.
Despite multiple so many coalitions in Tamil Nadu, the contest will largely be a direct fight between the AIADMK and the DMK.
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Under the leadership of Stalin, the DMK had a stellar performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, with its coalition winning 38 of the 39 seats. The DMK alliance had also bagged 13 of the 22 seats during byepolls, as opposed to AIADMK-led coalition’s nine seats.
Puducherry
Counting of votes for the 30 seats in the Union Territory was also underway. As of 1:50pm BDST, the All India NR Congress was ahead in five seats, the BJP in three seats and the DMK in one.
The Union Territory had voted in a single phase on April 6. The Congress was ahead in two seats and one constituency had an Independent candidate in the lead.
The results of four rounds of counting for eight seats would be available around 1:30pm BDST, according to The Hindu.
Former Puducherry Chief Minister and AINRC President N Rangasamy was trailing by a small margin of 673 votes. The leading candidate was Independent leader Gollapalli Srinivas Ashok.
Former Congress leader A John Kumar, who joined the BJP before the polls, was leading by 5,098 votes in the Kamaraj Nagar constituency.
