Jayalalithaa will be the first Tamil Nadu chief minister in three decades to win a second consecutive term since MGR completed a hat-trick in 1984.
In the 15th Tamil Nadu assembly election, All India Anna Dravidra Munnetra Kazhagam has won 134 seats, leaving 98 to the DMK-Congress-Indian Union Muslim League combine. The DMDK-PWF alliance, PMK and BJP were all decimated in the fight, revealing once again the binary nature of Tamil Nadu politics.
The statistics speak for the comprehensive nature of Jayalalithaa's victory . Though it was not a sweep, in sheer vote share terms, the AIADMK managed to increase its percentage over the previous assembly election from 38.4% to 40.4%. The victory was special for the AIADMK prima donna in other ways as well. For one, she went into it virtually alone despite perceived anti-incumbency .
“It is truly historic,“ Jayalalithaa said, expressing her gratitude to the masses. “When ten parties allied against me, I believed in God and built an alliance with the people. They did not let me down,“ she added.
Pitted against the father-son combination of M Karunanidhi and M K Stalin, who chose to project her as a distant and difficult leader intent on personal aggrandizement, she refused to be flustered. Allegations about a slump in investments and job growth in the state did not faze her, nor did the shadow of her conviction and incarceration in the 2014 assets case slow her down.
Also, Karunanidhi's reluctance to step aside and anoint a younger leader may be seen in some sections as one of the factors responsible for the party's defeat. Karunanidhi chose not to shake off the baggage that came with the 2G scandal in his previous term by projecting Stalin as the new face of the party . Allegations of corruption and the presence of the extended family around him continued to cast a shadow on the campaign.
Moreover, DMK had its own 2G skeletons in the closet, and Jayalalithaa ensured that her rivals were kept on the defensive. Her comebacks at the Karunanidhi family enlivened the campaign and turned the contest into a cliffhanger.
Her spiel: I have no family other than you the people; Karunanidhi's will be a family rule. And then she threw in a lot of freebies in good measure, including 50% subsidy on mopeds for women, free mobile phones, free power up to 100 units and farm loan waivers.
The sops worked. AIADMK swept through the western and southern districts of the state while holding on to seats in central Tamil Nadu. The significant gains made by DMK were mostly in the northern districts and Chennai where it managed to stop the Jayalalithaa juggernaut.
In Chennai, AIADMK got wallopped losing 10 of the 16 fights with veteran ministers failing to counter DMK's deputy chief Stalin's more development-oriented rhetoric. However, for the heir apparent, the Amma of all victories signals another long wait before he and his party president can lay claim to having overcome the taint of the 2G case.
In the 15th Tamil Nadu assembly election, All India Anna Dravidra Munnetra Kazhagam has won 134 seats, leaving 98 to the DMK-Congress-Indian Union Muslim League combine. The DMDK-PWF alliance, PMK and BJP were all decimated in the fight, revealing once again the binary nature of Tamil Nadu politics.
The statistics speak for the comprehensive nature of Jayalalithaa's victory . Though it was not a sweep, in sheer vote share terms, the AIADMK managed to increase its percentage over the previous assembly election from 38.4% to 40.4%. The victory was special for the AIADMK prima donna in other ways as well. For one, she went into it virtually alone despite perceived anti-incumbency .
“It is truly historic,“ Jayalalithaa said, expressing her gratitude to the masses. “When ten parties allied against me, I believed in God and built an alliance with the people. They did not let me down,“ she added.
Pitted against the father-son combination of M Karunanidhi and M K Stalin, who chose to project her as a distant and difficult leader intent on personal aggrandizement, she refused to be flustered. Allegations about a slump in investments and job growth in the state did not faze her, nor did the shadow of her conviction and incarceration in the 2014 assets case slow her down.
Also, Karunanidhi's reluctance to step aside and anoint a younger leader may be seen in some sections as one of the factors responsible for the party's defeat. Karunanidhi chose not to shake off the baggage that came with the 2G scandal in his previous term by projecting Stalin as the new face of the party . Allegations of corruption and the presence of the extended family around him continued to cast a shadow on the campaign.
Moreover, DMK had its own 2G skeletons in the closet, and Jayalalithaa ensured that her rivals were kept on the defensive. Her comebacks at the Karunanidhi family enlivened the campaign and turned the contest into a cliffhanger.
Her spiel: I have no family other than you the people; Karunanidhi's will be a family rule. And then she threw in a lot of freebies in good measure, including 50% subsidy on mopeds for women, free mobile phones, free power up to 100 units and farm loan waivers.
The sops worked. AIADMK swept through the western and southern districts of the state while holding on to seats in central Tamil Nadu. The significant gains made by DMK were mostly in the northern districts and Chennai where it managed to stop the Jayalalithaa juggernaut.
In Chennai, AIADMK got wallopped losing 10 of the 16 fights with veteran ministers failing to counter DMK's deputy chief Stalin's more development-oriented rhetoric. However, for the heir apparent, the Amma of all victories signals another long wait before he and his party president can lay claim to having overcome the taint of the 2G case.
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