DMK returns to power in a landslide Tamil Nadu election
What happened
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam returned to power in Tamil Nadu, defeating the incumbent All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in a landslide.
It won 133 of the 234 seats on offer.
That left it 15 seats clear of a majority.
The ADMK fell to 66 seats on 33.3% of the vote.
The DMK took 56.8% of the seats on 37.7% of the vote.
The campaign
On 20 October 2020, then Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam named Edappadi K Palaniswami the AIADMK's chief ministerial candidate, ahead of its alliance with the BJP and PMK.1
The Election Commission announced the schedule on 26 February, with polling on 6 April and counting on 2 May. The next day, AIADMK sealed a seat-sharing pact with the PMK, giving S Ramadoss's party 23 seats, a day after the state passed 10.5% internal reservation for Vanniyars.23
On 3 March 2021, weeks after her release from prison, V K Sasikala announced she would quit politics, removing a rival power centre within the AIADMK camp.4
On 7 March, DMK's MK Stalin and Congress's KS Alagiri signed a pact giving Congress 25 seats and the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat. Days later, on 12 March, Kamal Haasan of Makkal Needhi Maiam announced his own electoral debut, contesting Coimbatore South.56
Congress candidate PSW Madhava Rao died of COVID-19 on 11 April, five days after polling. On 26 April, the Madras High Court remarked that the Commission should face murder charges for allowing rallies during the deadly second wave.78
- 1Panneerselvam Announces Palaniswami as AIADMK's CM Candidate — 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election — Wikipedia
- 2Election Commission Announces Tamil Nadu Poll Schedule — 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election — Wikipedia
- 3AIADMK Seals Seat-Sharing Deal With PMK — AIADMK clinches seat-sharing agreement with PMK — The Tribune
- 4Sasikala Announces Decision to Quit Politics — 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election — Wikipedia
- 5DMK Allots Congress 25 Seats in Alliance Pact — DMK gives 25 Assembly seats, Kanyakumari LS seat to Congress — The Tribune
- 6Kamal Haasan to Contest From Coimbatore South — Kamal Haasan will contest from Coimbatore South, to face off with BJP and Congress — The News Minute
- 7Congress Candidate Madhava Rao Dies of COVID-19 During Campaign — 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election — Wikipedia
- 8Madras High Court Blames Election Commission Over COVID Surge — 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election — Wikipedia
What changed
The single biggest movement of the election ran from the ADMK to the DMK.
It covered 64 of the 110 seats that changed hands across the state.
The ADMK saw a 2-election winning streak end in collapse.
The DMK itself grew from 89 seats to 133 seats this time.
Turnout, the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot, moved -2.0 pp from the previous election.
Notable numbers
Theayagaraya Nagar, Tamil Nadu saw the tightest finish of the election: the margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — was 137 votes.
Athoor, Tamil Nadu saw the widest margin of the election, with the winner finishing 59.0% of the vote ahead of the runner-up.
Turnout peaked in Palacode, Tamil Nadu, where 87.4% of registered voters cast a ballot — the highest of any seat in the state.
Shozhinganallur, Tamil Nadu was the largest constituency by registered voters, with 6,99,612 names on its rolls, and also recorded the lowest turnout of any seat, 55.5%.
Karur, Tamil Nadu drew the most candidates anywhere, 77 names on the ballot.
NOTA — None of the Above, a ballot option letting voters formally reject every candidate on offer — drew 3,45,538 votes statewide, 0.7% of the total.
The backdrop
On 17 October 1972, DMK expelled M G Ramachandran as party treasurer, and he founded the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam soon after.9
Renamed the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on 12 September 1976, it became Tamil Nadu's second major Dravidian party.9
DMK and AIADMK have contested every state assembly election since 1977, an unbroken rivalry this result extended rather than broke.9
- 9MGR splits from DMK, founds AIADMK — All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam