Chennai: Against the national tide that went in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the DMK-Congress and its allies on Thursday led in 36 out of the 38 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu, where election was held.
The results are a big blow to the ruling AIADMK, which won 37 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The AIADMK had fought the 2019 Lok Sabha election in alliance with BJP and PMK. The three parties had seat-sharing arrangement of 20 for AIADMK, seven for PMK and five for BJP. However, together, the three parties failed to put up a good show.
Tamil Nadu has 39 Lok Sabha seats. Although, voting was held in 38 seats after the Election Commission cancelled the poll in Vellore on the grounds of allegations of money play.
The DMK-led front included Congress, CPI, CPI-M and others. The star candidates of DMK like Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi, former union ministers TR Baalu, A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran were in the lead, including prominent Congress candidates Karti P Chidambaram, H Vasanthakumar, S Jothimani and Su Thirunavukarasar.
Eight hundred and twenty two candidates were in the fray from Tamil Nadu. This was the first major election in the state without the two stalwarts - J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi.
Meanwhile, in Puducherry, the Union Territory which voted in the second phase of Lok Sabha election, has favoured Congress over the All India N R Congress (AINRC). Ve Vaithilingam is winning from the lone seat in Puducherry, where 18 candidates contested.
Voting for the 2019 Lok Sabha election took place in seven phases from April 11 to May 19.
