DMDK Vijaykant palys spoiler role yet again in TN

Living upto its tag of being the "spoiler," actor politician Vijayakant's DMDK yet again proved to be the nemesis of both DMK and AIADMK fronts in Lok Sabha polls, splitting votes decisively in a number of seats making the difference between victory and defeat for either fronts.    

The party of the "Captain", as the actor is known among his fans, has not come anywhere near winning even a single seat in all the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies it contested, but turned out to be the thorn for losing candidates, particularly those of AIADMK cutting into their vote share in many seats.    

It appeared to be a virtual repeat of the 2006 assembly elections for AIADMK as the DMDK had made considerable dent into its vote banks, helping the rival candidates to register easy victories in three-way ties.

DMDK then won only one seat (Vijaykant emerging victor) contesting 234 assembly constituencies but secured nearly eight per cent vote share.    

In this election too, the party appeared to have taken bulk of the anti-incumbancy votes, which usually goes to the AIADMK front.    

Nine of the DMDK candidates secured more than one lakh votes each in constituencies such as Kancheepuram, Dharmapuri, Arani, Kallakurichi, Dindigul and Virudhunagar, where  MDMK's Vaiko lost by just 15,754 votes.    

Congress was also a major sufferer as DMDK polled more votes than the defeat margins of union minister Manishnkar Aiyar and TNCC President K V Thankgabalu.