CHENNAI: DMK president M K Stalin on Saturday described the Assembly bypoll results as a “victory in defeat” for the party and a “defeat in victory” for the TVK.
Addressing media persons after paying floral tributes to the statue and portrait of ‘Murasoli’ Selvam at the Murasoli office in Kodambakkam on the death anniversary of the party mouthpiece’s editor.
Stalin to a question on the bypoll results said he had already issued a statement on the outcome. “If I have to sum up the election results in one phrase, it is a victory in defeat for the DMK and a defeat in victory for the TVK.”
Meanwhile, I Paranthamen, who lost the Madurantakam bypoll as the DMK’s candidate, said the votes he secured in the constituency demonstrated the strength of the party’s standalone vote bank, arguing that it has retained its core support despite changes in its alliance.
Referring to claims that the DMK’s electoral victories depended on the votes contributed by its alliance partners, he told media persons that the performance of the party, which had secured 29% of the votes polled in the recently-concluded bypoll as compared to 30% in the April election, shows that its own vote bank accounted for the bulk of the support.