CHENNAI: For the first time since its inception in 1972, the AIADMK has lost security deposits in the 2024 general election. The party, which has ruled Tamil Nadu seven times and has faced 13 Lok Sabha polls, lost its deposit in seven of the 34 constituencies it contested on its popular ‘Two Leaves’ symbol.
This is unprecedented as, till 2019, its candidates managed to secure their deposits, by garnering the minimum of one-sixth (16.67%) of total polled votes even in general elections in which the party performed poorly. For instance, in 1996, when it battled severe anti-incumbency and was completely routed in the Assembly elections, the vote share of none of its candidates fell below 23% in the Lok Sabha polls which were held simultaneously.
The closest AIADMK had come to losing its deposit in a Lok Sabha election was, strangely, in 2014 when it swept Tamil Nadu by winning 37 seats, losing only Kanniyakumari and Dharmapuri to the BJP and the PMK respectively. In Kanniyakumari, the party’s D John Thankam polled 17.8% of the votes, just 1.1% above the minimum of 16.67%.
Even in the over 1,500 Assembly contests the party has faced since 1977, its candidates have lost their deposit fewer than 10 times, marking the 2024 performance as significant.
AIADMK got just 14.8% votes in 9 seats
The constituencies in which it lost deposit in 2024 are Chennai South, Vellore, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari. Four of these seven constituencies are in the South, in consonance with its poor performance in the region where it secured only 14.8% votes in the nine seats it contested.
While it was pushed to the third spot by the BJP-led NDA in six of these seven constituencies, in Kanniyakumari, it faced a drubbing and was relegated to the fourth place with its candidate managing only 4% votes, trailing the NTK candidate.
Of the 34 seats it contested, it was the runner-up in 24, pushed to the third spot in nine and fourth spot in 1. The BJP, which tried hard to make inroads in Tamil Nadu by contesting without the support of the AIADMK, lost its deposit in 11 of 23 constituencies.
The constituencies are Tiruvallur, Chennai North, Tiruvannamalai, Namakkal, Tiruppur, Karur, Perambalur, Chidambaram, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur and Virudhunagar. In Tiruvallur, the party’s Pon V Balaganapathy lost his deposit despite coming a distant second with 15.7% vote-share.
Among the remaining 10 constituencies, the party secured the third spot in all, except Nagapattinam where it was pushed to the fourth spot. In Perambalur, its alliance partner TR Paarivendhar of IJK had contested on the BJP’s Lotus symbol.
The BJP’s poorest performance in terms of vote-share was in Karur where the party’s VV Senthilnathan polled just 9.05% votes. Of the 950 candidates in fray in Tamil Nadu in total, 863 lost their deposits.