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BIG STORY APRIL 30, 2021 | The Indian Eye 6

DMK party workers feed sweets to MK Stalin's poster Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan
as they celebrate their party's victory in Tamil nadu state legislative as- interacts with winning LDF candidates on Kerala assembly polls, in the
sembly elections, at party headquarters in Chennai on Sunday. (ani Photo) Kannur district on Sunday. (ani Photo)

gress’ thumping win in assem- (B) retained its sitting seat, to a survivor a year later to a with a record margin.
bly elections in West Bengal, while Indian National League performer in the past year was AIADMK, which forged an
Congress leader Kapil Sibal (INL) and Congress (Secular) just not enough to retain pow- uneasy peace among factions
on Monday said “arrogance, won one seat each. er given AIADMK’s uninter- following J Jayalalithaa’s death
might, money power and using The main opposition Con- rupted run for 10 years. in December 2016, will now
Jai Shri Ram for politics” lost gress was able to win just 21 The TN result shows an- face another challenge if her
the polls in the state. seats out of the 91 seats it con- ti-incumbency in the state is former aide V K Sasikala tries
tested. The UDF partner In- not always a roaring wave, it to fish in troubled waters.
KeraLa: Left is rigHt dian Union Muslim League could be a silent undercurrent. For Modi-Shah, the result
CHoiCe (IUML) also put a dismal per- AIADMK’s apparent defer- is a double blow. Besides the
In a historic victory, the formance winning just 15 seats ence to BJP added swirls to the failure to get a strong foothold
Communist Party of India (M)- out of the 27 seats it contested. current while DMK president in the heart of the South, it is
led Left Democratic Front When Kerala Congress won M K Stalin rode expectations also the loss of a friendly, even
(LDF) retained power in Ker- 2 seats, the Kerala Congress that outweighed allegations of pliable, state government.
ala by winning 99 seats against (Jacob), the National Secular dynasty politics. Congress has fared some-
41 seats of Congress-led Unit- Conference and the Revolu- Both sides broadly played what better, winning 18 seats
ed Democratic Front (UDF) in tionary Marxist Party of India to their strengths. DMK’s tally in DMK’s company. Having
the Assembly polls. (RMP) won one seat each. was boosted by its performance contested 25 this time (a climb
In the 140-member Kera- When the left under Pina- in urban segments where it won down from 41 in 2016), the
la Assembly, Bharatiya Janata rayi Vijayan routed the Op- 40 of its 156 seats while AIAD- party remains a minor ally. The
Party (BJP)-led the Nation- position both Congress and MK had a better score in the 2021 assembly election results
al Democratic Front (NDA) BJP suffered a huge setback. rural parts, which elected 61 have thus cemented Tamil Na-
failed to hold on to the sin- In the BJP, senior leaders like of its 78 MLAs. In seats with du’s image as a Dravidian fort
gle-seat it won of Nemom in Kummanam Rajasekharan, a minority electorate of over impregnable for national par-
Thiruvananthapuram in 2016 state president K Surendran 20%, AIADMK surprisingly ties.
and drew a blank this time. In who contested from two seats, did not concede much ground
LDF, CPI (M) led from the Sobha Surendran and Metro- despite the BJP being its alli- assam: a CoNsoLatioN
front winning 68 seats, includ- man E Sreedharan faced de- ance partner. It won 7 out of for bJP
ing the independent candi- feats. 27 such constituencies while The Bharatiya Janata Party
dates backed by the party. The the rest went to the DMK. (BJP)-led National Democrat-
closest ally CPI won 17 seats, tamiL NadU: All in all, the DMK alli- ic Alliance secured a comfort-
while the new entrant to the tHe retUrN of a soN ance’s efforts to paint AIAD- able majority in Assam Assem-
Left fold, Kerala Congress (M) The DMK alliance’s victo- MK as one taking orders from bly elections paving its way to
managed to win 5 seats out of ry by a margin of roughly 80 the ‘outsider’ BJP paid div- form the government in the
the 12 seats it contested. Jana- seats wasn’t a surprise to many idends. On the other hand, state winning 75 seats of the
ta Dal (Secular) and National- including discerning observers AIADMK’s charges of the total 126 constituencies.
ist Congress Party (NCP) won in the AIADMK. Edappadi K DMK being a family-controlled As per the Election Com-
2 seats each, and the Loktan- Palaniswami’s ratings as a chief party did not matter, what with mission, the BJP secured 60
trik Janta Dal (LJD) won just minister were high, but his im- Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi win- seats, about 33.2 per cent of
one seat out of three seats it age makeover from that of an ning his electoral debut from the total vote share, while
contested. Kerala Congress accidental CM four years ago Thousand Lights in Chennai Continued on next page... >>

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