CHENNAI: Despite its defeats in the April Assembly elections and the latest by-polls to the resurgent TVK, electoral data suggests that the DMK has retained its core, independent vote bank, positioning it as a potential spoiler capable of denting its rival’s electoral prospects in future contests.
In the general election, the DMK lost to Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam but retained a robust baseline of voter support.
The DMK secured 24.28 per cent of the total valid votes across the state and won 59 seats on its own in the Assembly polls, making it the principal opposition party in the Legislative Assembly, ahead of the AIADMK.
Its allies, the Congress, VCK, Left parties, and IUML, backed Vijay in forming the state's first minority government in May.
The October 6 by-elections in Madurantakam and Dharapuram offered a key test of the DMK’s electoral strength, as the party contested largely on its own, without the backing of its traditional heavyweight allies.
Party analysts highlight that its performance proved the resilience of its standalone cadre base.
Its candidate for Madurantakam (SC), I Paranthamen, polled 54,008 votes, finishing second behind TVK's Maragatham Kumaravel and improving the party's third-place finish in April.
DMK's vote share dipped by just 1.1%.
In the Dharapuram (SC) constituency, the party (S Suganya) finished second behind TVK's P Sathyabama, though its vote share dipped by less than 0.5%.
In Dharapuram, Suganya secured 57,370 votes but lost by 9,471 votes to TVK's Sathyabama.
The DMK edged out the AIADMK, which ultimately lost both seats to the TVK.
The "Vijay wave" completely dismantled the AIADMK's vote bank, relegating the Palaniswami-led party to third place, while the DMK's numbers show its structural and ideological base did not desert the party.
Party chief M K Stalin has leveraged these specific figures to assure cadres that the DMK remained the only mathematically viable alternative capable of mounting a challenge to the TVK heading into the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
He had termed TVK's win as an "interim victory for betrayal" and had said, "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."
Stalin argued that if one combined the total votes polled by all opposition parties contesting against the TVK, it proved that the government had actually been "rejected by a majority of the people".
(With inputs from PTI)
