Bucking the national trend that favoured the BJP, the DMK-led alliance on Thursday dealt a major blow to Tamil Nadu’s ruling AIADMK-led alliance which comprised the BJP, as it seemed set to capture 36 of the state’s 38 Lok Sabha seats that went for polls on April 18.
All the candidates put up by the ruling AIADMK’s alliance partners bit the dust.
The DMK was, however, not able to replicate the sweep in the by-elections for the 22 assembly seats as it led in 13 constituencies while AIADMK is in lead in nine seats at the time of writing this report.
While the DMK and AIADMK contested the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with other parties, it was a head-on contest between the two in the assembly by-elections.