CHENNAI: The annual general council meeting of the AIADMK on Wednesday turned out to be an occasion for pep talks to the functionaries and cadre to face the 2026 Assembly election with confidence. While AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami asserted that the vote share of the AIADMK-led alliance and BJP-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha election clearly indicated that the AIADMK-led alliance would win 210 constituencies in the forthcoming Assembly election, the other leaders said the party is the only force that has the potential to unseat the DMK from power. It is to be noted that the AIADMK and BJP were not in alliance for 2024 LS polls.
Addressing the GC meet in Vanagaram, on the outskirts of Chennai, the routine venue for the AIADMK meetings, Palaniswami said, “The vote share of the AIADMK and BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha election stood at 41.33% and going by this (2024 results), there is a possibility of winning 84 Assembly constituencies. In 15 Assembly constituencies, the margin of defeat was only 1%. In 18 Assembly constituencies, the difference was only between 1% and 2%.”
In perhaps the first such explicit acknowledgement by Palaniswami that the AIADMK has also roped in an election strategist, he said, “We have also engaged an election strategist. We know our calculations. I am sure our alliance will win 210 constituencies in the forthcoming Assembly election.”
Palaniswami also pointed out that the voters of Tamil Nadu decide differently for Lok Sabha elections and the Assembly election, indicating that the AIADMK’s rout in the 2024 Lok Sabha election need not reflect in the Assembly elections. Stating that a section of the party functionaries has doubts about the party’s electoral prospects, the AIADMK general secretary said in the 2021 Assembly election, the AIADMK lost power by a total margin of just 2 lakh votes. He also referred to the results of past elections where AIADMK and DMK bounced back from electoral defeats.
Palaniswami said that in the election to be held next year, the AIADMK will lead the alliance in Tamil Nadu, and it will form the government with an absolute majority.
However, he did not explicitly counter the continuous assertions of Union Home Minister Amit Shah that there will be a coalition government in Tamil Nadu in 2026.
Ahead of the GC meeting, answering a query from reporters, senior AIADMK leader M Thambidurai categorically said that the AIADMK will form its government and the party would not share its power with others. He stressed that the alliance is only for the elections.
While stressing that a strong alliance will be formed for the 2026 Assembly election, Palaniswami hastened to add that the AIADMK is a party with inherent strength, whereas the DMK has lost the support of the people.
“That is why Stalin keeps repeatedly saying that ‘our alliance is a strong alliance’. He is not contesting the election relying on his own party’s strength, but only on the strength of the alliance.”
Palaniswami also explained that in the 2019, 2021 and 2024 elections, the AIADMK formed its alliance only a month before the announcement of the polls.
Similarly, this time too, a remarkable alliance will be formed ahead of the Assembly polls. Significantly, Palaniswami and other leaders were silent about the pleas about the ‘unification’ of the AIADMK by bringing back those who drifted away from the party.