CHENNAI: The AIADMK may have lost out to its arch-rival DMK in the race for Lok Sabha, but the bypoll numbers, upon a closer look, show the party is still a formidable force. The ruling party has managed to secure a solid 38.18 per cent vote share in the Assembly bypolls. In absolute terms, the party was not very far from the DMK in the bypoll race.
The AIADMK secured 16,76,091 votes in the bypolls compared to DMK which got an impressive 19,78,636 votes -- 45.07 per cent. The difference between the two parties is just 3,02,545 votes, 6.8 per cent. This is in stark contrast to the outcome of Lok Sabha elections in which AIADMK managed to win just one seat, while its allies got none.
In Lok Sabha polls, 20 candidates of DMK, and allies VCK, IUML and IJK who faced elections on DMK symbol, secured 1.38 crore votes, which amounts to 32.76 percent. Compared to that, AIADMK, which contested in 20 seats, got 78.3 lakh votes (18.48 percent). This means DMK managed to get a good 60 lakh more votes than its rival.
The AIADMK’s bypoll performance gives credence to theories of observers that the party could have performed better in parliamentary elections had it not aligned with the BJP. While the saffron party was on a surge in rest of the country, there was a wave against it in Tamil Nadu, say observers. BJP’s vote share in Tamil Nadu was a meagre 3.6 per cent.
