CHENNAI: The seat-sharing talks between AIADMK and DMDK have been dragging on as the latter has demanded at least 23 seats. However, party sources said that the AIADMK is not ready to concede more than 15 seats.
The DMDK, which remained one of the much sought-after parties for the Dravidian majors for forging an alliance during 2011 and 2016 Assembly elections, has lost its charisma in the last few years.
The party’s vote share has nosedived to just 2.4 per cent in 2016 Assembly polls from an impressive 10.3 per cent in 2009 general elections.
In its first Assembly elections in 2006, a year after it was launched, the DMDK sent shock waves among other political parties by receiving a whopping 8.4 per cent of votes.
It contested in 232 of 234 constituencies with Vijayakant alone emerging victorious. As a new entrant in politics, the PMK’s vote share in 1989 was 6 per cent.
In 2009 general elections, the DMDK fielded its candidates in 39 Lok Sabha seats and received 10.3 per cent votes. Such a rise in its vote share pegged it as the third largest party in the State after the DMK and the AIADMK. In 2011, Vijayakant even went on to become the leader of opposition after the party won 29 of the 41 Assembly seats it contested in.
The fall in DMDK’s vote share started in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when it contested in 14 seats forging alliance with the BJP, the MDMK and the PMK.
Apart from suffering a defeat in all the seats, the party’s vote share also plunged to 5.1 per cent. During 2016 Assembly elections, fighting polls as part of Makkal Nala Kootani, the DMDK unsuccessfully contested in 105 seats, bringing its vote share further down to 2.4 per cent. During the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, with hardly any bargaining power left, the DMDK was forced to accept four seats in AIADMK alliance, but failed to register victory in any.