Chennai: When counting officials begin opening electronic voting machines across Tamil Nadu on Monday, they will hold in their hands the verdict of a record 4,87,98,833 voters — a staggering 85.10% of the state’s electorate — on a four-cornered Assembly elections.
For Chief Minister M K Stalin and the ruling DMK, Monday is not merely an election result — it is a rendezvous with history. The party is seeking to break the jinks of never having retained power in successive elections since 1971. Stalin heads a broad Secular Progressive Alliance — stitched together with the Congress, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, CPI, CPI-M, IUML, MDMK and several smaller formations — and has campaigned on a platform of welfare delivery, ideological positioning and a populist manifesto.
Strategically, Stalin chose to frame this election not as a contest between parties, but as a civilisational battle: Tamil Nadu versus New Delhi, with the BJP cast as the villain and the AIADMK-led alliance painted as its regional proxy.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami enters counting day as a man who cannot afford another defeat. The AIADMK has suffered successive electoral reverses since 2017 under his stewardship. His NDA comprising the BJP, the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) and others, had hit out at the DMK as a corrupt party that had let down the State in terms of law and order and women’s safety. A defeated, or a diminished mandate, could trigger an internal reckoning that the AIADMK may not survive intact.
This election’s most watched subplot is, of course, the debut of Kollywood superstar C Joseph Vijay’s His mass following transcended demographics, and his campaign drew crowds that no other opposition figure currently commands.
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Contesting from two constituencies, Perambur in Chennai and Tiruchi East, Vijay has placed himself personally on the line. Political observers widely expect the TVK to post a double-digit vote share. The central question though is whether that support will convert into seats, if so how many. But what is not under dispute is that he is this election’s biggest disruptor and challenger of the Dravidian duopoly.
Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi, a recognised State party, is in the fray in all 234 constituencies, fielding women in nearly half its seats, along with one transperson candidate. The NTK’s current eight per cent vote share will be tested this time.
Union Minister L Murugan, former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, BJP Mahila Morcha president Vanathi Srinivasan and 31 of Stalin’s cabinet colleagues including his son and Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin are among the prominent candidates whose fates would be seated on Monday.
