Time for voters to have their say in Tamil Nadu
A total of 3,998 candidates have taken position after high-octane political campaigning reached a heady crescendo during the last few days before one of the most riveting poll battles in the history of Tamil Nadu, scheduled for today. They will be vying for the preference of 3,19,39,112 women, 3,09,23,651 men and 7,192 transgender people to be elected across 234 constituencies to the 16th Legislative Assembly. For AIADMK’s Edappadi K Palaniswami and the DMK’s M K Stalin, it’s a do-or-die battle. Palaniswami’s last-minute announcements of 10.5% Vanniyar quota and 7.5% reservation for government school students in NEET as also a slew of welfare programmes are vote catchers.
As for Stalin, his party has been out of power for two consecutive terms and is confident of victory now, keen as it is on exploiting anti-incumbency in a wave-less election. The DMK fielded actor and Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi as well, hoping to attract the youth. While he drew crowds, his choice of language at times was off-putting. Insensitive speech by another DMK leader, A Raja, landed him in trouble, gifting the AIADMK a strong card on women’s dignity. The BJP, a part of the AIADMK alliance, managed better visibility in the campaigns this time with PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah holding big rallies and road shows.
The other players in the first state election without the towering presence of AIADMK’s J Jayalalithaa and DMK’s M Karunanidhi include actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam leading a group of parties. T T V Dhinakaran’s AMMK is another factor whose potential to hurt the AIADMK in the south prodded his aunt, V K Sasikala, a close confidant of Jayalalithaa, to say she would stay away from politics to defeat the DMK, the common enemy. The AMMK is in alliance with Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM and Vijayakanth’s DMDK. The fifth player with a committed vote bank is Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi, which has gone it alone.One pearl of wisdom from veterans is that elections in TN are won in the last two days before polling, for obvious reasons. Would it happen this time as well?