The verdict is more or less out in Tamil Nadu, with leads clearly favouring the DMK alliance led by MK Stalin. The party and its allies, including the Congress, are ahead in at least 144 seats, while the ruling AIADMK is up in 91 seats. In the 234-seat House, a party needs at least 118 seats to win the election. While The AIADMK, which has been in power since 2011, hopes to extend its hold on the state for another term, DMK, on the other hand, is hoping a mixture of incumbency and instability within the ruling party will allow it to return to the helm after a decade.
DMK workers and supporters have already started celebrating outside Anna Arivalayam, the party's headquarters in Chennai. DMK chief Stalin, however, chided party workers for flouting Covid norms, reminding them to ‘be mindful of pandemic’.
The 2021 Assembly Elections, is the first in Tamil Nadu without two of the state's towering political figures - M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa. Tamil Nadu has traditionally seen the DMK and the AIADMK hold power alternately since 1967. However, AIADMK emerged victorious in the last two Assembly elections under the leadership of Jayalalithaa. The gap Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha left in the political arena, in the meantime, has given rise to other fronts, like the Makkal Needhi Maiam, for instance, over the last few years.
Actor-turned politician Kamal Hassan of Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) is currently leading against BJP's Vanathi Srinivasan and Congress' Mayura S Jayakumar to emerge as the next legislator for Coimbatore (South) constituency.
