Chennai: Tamil Nadu waits with bated breath to know who will rule the state for the next five years. Will the people give a second consecutive term to the AIADMK or prefer the switch to DMK once again? The signs are that the much promoted alternative to these two parties is yet to take off in the state.
The EVMs, which had stored the secret numbers of the people’s vote till now, will reveal the answer to the million dollar question sometime around noon on Thursday.
The exit polls threw up contradicting results and prominent television editors even cast doubts on the veracity of some of their own surveys thus adding to the deep suspense attached to the election results of the May 16 Assembly polls.
Accurately gauging the mind of the voters of Tamil Nadu has always been a difficult task for pollsters whose predictions also went haywire during the 2011 Assembly elections.
For the 93-year-old DMK chief, this election could possibly be his political swansong though he has evinced interest in “working for the people of the state even if I turn 103” as he put it. The crucial question remaining in the minds of nearly six crore voters in the state is whether anti-incumbency, a term which they are well familiar with, will play out this time as well or the state would vote for the status quo. Both Dravidian majors, which have ruled Tamil Nadu alternatively since 1967 when Congress was dislodged from power, are pinning hopes on their manifestos and the whirlwind tours of the state by their leaders and star campaigners. Ms Jayalalithaa chose to keep her cards close to the chest on Monday after casting her vote when journalists asked her to predict the election results. “You have waited for so many days. Wait for two more days to know people’s verdict,” was all she said, while her rival camp brimmed with optimism.
On the other hand, Karunanidhi and the DMK’s prince-in-waiting M.K. Stalin were confident that the DMK would form the next government in Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK has shown political guts by fielding candidates in all 234 constituencies, a bold move that even M.G. Ramachandran never attempted, while the DMK aligned with its old friend Congress while a new amalgamation of six political parties entered the poll fray as one alliance projecting themselves as an alternative to the Dravidian parties.
This is undoubtedly an epic election for Tamil Nadu as this is the first time that the state witnessed fierce six-cornered contests with the Dravidian majors — AIADMK and DMK — being pitted against a Third Front of six regional parties evoking political interest across the country.
The stakes are very high for Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and her archrival M. Karunanidhi as the former tries to create more electoral history by retaining power for the next five years, a feat that has not been achieved by anyone after her mentor M.G. Ramachandran did so in 1980 and 1984.
