DMK’s Clean Sweep in TN & Pondy Adds 40 Seats to INDIA Bloc

CHENNAI: The BJP’s ambitious goal fell short, but the DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin’s “40/40” slogan resonated with voters as the DMK-led INDIA bloc swept the Lok Sabha elections, winning all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry on Tuesday. This victory echoes the DMK-led United Progressive Alliance’s achievement in 2004 when they also secured all 40 seats. Compared to 2019, where they lost only the Theni seat to AIADMK, the DMK bloc improved its performance significantly.

With the DMK securing a resounding victory, the contest for the second spot was tight between the AIADMK and BJP alliances. AIADMK emerged second in 24 seats, its ally DMDK in three seats, BJP in 10 seats, and BJP’s allies PMK and AMMK in Dharmapuri and Theni, respectively. Former CM O Panneerselvam, who contested as an Independent under the NDA, finished second in Ramanathapuram.

In Coimbatore, which garnered national attention due to the candidacy of BJP state president K Annamalai, the party faced disappointment as he lost to DMK’s P Ganapathy Rajkumar by 1,18,068 votes. Naam Tamilar Katchi, contesting all 39 seats, improved its vote tally to 8.15% from 3.85% in 2019, coming third in seven seats.

The DMK’s vote share decreased from 52.5% in 2019 to 46.3%. Despite tough competition in Dharmapuri and Virudhunagar from BJP ally PMK and AIADMK ally DMDK, the DMK bloc won comfortably elsewhere. AIADMK’s vote share remained steady at 20%, similar to 2019, although it contested 32 seats this time compared to 22 seats previously. The alliance led by AIADMK, including DMDK, secured 23.05% of the votes.

The BJP saw its vote share rise from 3.58% in 2019 to 11% in 2024, though it contested 23 seats this time compared to five in 2019. The BJP-led alliance recorded a vote share of 18.19%, with key ally PMK, which was the runner-up in Dharmapuri, obtaining around 4.5% of the votes.