Chennai: Though the opposition DMK lost to ruling AIADMK in a closely fought contest, the little respite for the party came in Greater Chennai area comprising suburbs in Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur.
The December floods that hit areas such as Saidapet, Velachery, Sholinganallur, Pallavaram, Tambaram and Chengalpet saw voters electing DMK candidates. The worst result for AIADMK came from Kancheepuram district where the party just won two seats losing 9 seats to DMK. More than 80 per cent of these seats were earlier held by AIADMK.
The AIADMK in Chennai lost ten seats of the total 16 helping the DMK to do better. Interestingly Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s presence in R K Nagar as a candidate helped her party to do better in north Chennai, whereas the ruling party despite pitching in senior leaders lost most seats in central and south Chennai.
Senior ministers Gokula Indira and Valarmathi lost their Anna Nagar and Thousand Lights constituencies in a straight fight with the DMK. Gokula Indira lost a close fight with DMK’s M. K. Mohan by a margin of 1687 votes.
Surprisingly DMK’s green horn Sivakumar known as Thayagam Kavi defeated AIADMK sitting MLA V. Neelakandan in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar by a margin of 3322 votes. His mentor and former Mayor M. Subramanian who contested in Saidapet trounced the senior AIADMK leader C Ponnaiyan by a margin of 16255 votes.
Sparring Mylapore, where the Congress candidate Karate R. Thiagarajan lost to AIADMK’s R. Nataraj, all other flood hit seats in south Chennai went in favour of DMK. Party’s north Chennai district secretary P. Vettrivel won in Perambur with a narrow margin of 519 votes and AIADMK strongman D. Jayakumar retained Royapuram seat with a margin of 8031 votes.
“The impact of December floods in capital city is a problem and it has affected a few seats to our party and in fact even a few senior leaders complained about the voters mood earlier, but we thought we can scrap through projecting Amma schemes”, said a dejected a AIADMK candidate who lost in Chennai.
Big win for DMK in Kanchi
Winning nine seats in Kancheepuram, out of which eight were occupied by AIADMK representatives since 2011, the DMK exhibited a massive show of strength and rode an anti-incumbency wave to gain inroads into the state assembly.
DMK candidates emerged victorious in Alandur, Pallavaram, Tambaram, Sholinganallur, Kancheepuram, Uthiramerur, Madurantakam, Cheyyur and Chengalpattu (previously the seat of DMDK) beating tough opposition from AIADMK.
The highest victory margin was achieved by DMK’s M. Varalakshmi, who beat her AIADMK rival by 26,292 votes. The lowest margin was in
Cheyyur, where a meagre 304 votes was enough for DMK to come to top.
The AIADMK retained its seats in Sriperumbudur (beating Congress) and Thiruporur, where it beat the DMK. Notable among the candidates who ended up on the losing side were Panruti Ramachandran, AIADMK spokesperson C.R. Saraswathi and Tambaram local strongman for the AIADMK, ‘Chitlapakkam’ Rajendran.
Stalin’s new style campaign fails
DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin’s much hyped new style campaign titled ‘Namakku Naamey’, the hi-tech media propaganda and use of social media have failed to catapult the DMK to power.Stalin carried out a campaign titled ‘Namakku Naamey’, walking along the streets and mingling with people to listen to their grievances.
It was said to be a hit among the people and it was believed that such a campaign would win power for his party. Besides walking, he rode bi-cycles, mopeds, tractors and bullock carts and sipped tea at road side shops.
He changed his attire and started wearing T-shirts, branded colourful shirts and trousers to attract young and new voters. The AIADMK ridiculed Stalin’s campaign as a drama and circus, being enjoyed by people. The party’s campaign with the advice of Stalin’s family members resembled a corporate advertisement campaign.
The TV and newspaper advertisements of the party used casual dialogue like “Ennamma ippadi pandreengaleymma”, deviating from the usual serious political tone. Stalin also sang film songs in his campaign and followed a casual approach to canvass votes.Compared to this, the DMK leader M. Karunanidhi’s formal political campaign has fetched better results.
