For the DMK, which put up a keen fight to regain power in the state, it appeared to be very near, but too far at the end, as it lost to the AIADMK for the second consecutive time in an Assembly elections to its arch rival.
For the last 27 years, the DMK had captured power in alternate terms and this election was considered to be the turn of the DMK to return to power. But the DMK has missed its turn and should continue in Opposition for another term.
It was euphoria at the DMK headquarters Arivalayam when the results started pouring in as cadres danced and shouted slogans of “CM Kalaignar” since the party was moving neck to neck with its rival. The celebrations did not abate even till afternoon when it was becoming clear that the AIADMK was going past the halfway mark. For the cadres, it was an agonising defeat as the prospects appeared bright with the results shifting from one side to another in every round. Their party approached very near to power, but failed. For them, it was a like a cricket match lost by a few runs. Their anger was against MDMK leader Vaiko, who prevented Vijayakanth from aligning with the DMK. Some of the cadres lamented that Vaiko was on a mission to prevent Karunanidhi from coming back to power.
Some of them were also complaining that the Congress should not have been allocated 41 seats as the national party won only eight of them and gifted the rest to the AIADMK.
However, the DMK had the consolation of emerging as the strongest Opposition in the history of the state, winning 89 of the 232 seats. In the previous Assembly elections, when the DMK lost power in 1984, 1991, 2001 and 2011, it did not get the Opposition status and was pushed to the third spot. For the DMK, obtaining 88 seats was a quantum jump from the 23 seats it won last time.
The DMK has improved its performance compared to the 2014 Parliament elections when it was pushed to the third place in seven Parliament constituencies and failed to win a single Lok Sabha seat. It polled around 22.9 per cent votes in the 2011 Assembly elections and 23.91 per cent votes in the 2014 Parliament polls. The votes secured by the DMK too had increased to about 31 per cent.
