AIADMK will win 210 seats, DMK losing: Edapadi Palaniswami
EPS presented a vote-share analysis, stating that had the AIADMK and BJP contested the last parliamentary election together, they would have collectively secured 41.33% of the vote.
Edappadi K Palaniswami at the AIADMK executive committee and general council meeting on December 10 (Hemanathan M)
CHENNAI: The AIADMK-led NDA will sweep the 2026 Assembly elections with 210 seats, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said at its general council meeting on Wednesday in Vanagaram.
The council passed 16 resolutions, including condemnations of the DMK government for alleged interference in court matters and failure to abide by a court order on the Thiruparankundram issue, as well as for its handling of the northeast monsoon. It passed resolutions authorising EPS to finalise alliance decisions, endorsing the alliance with the BJP, and resolving to make Palaniswami the chief minister after the 2026 elections.
The MK Stalin-led dispensation has lost its popularity, Palaniswami said and reiterated that the DMK has not fulfilled electoral assurances including scrapping NEET.
The leader of opposition welcomed the SIR exercise and said the ruling party had planned to win next year's election through "fake votes," and hence the DMK is fearful of the SIR exercise, he said.
With four months remaining until the polls, the meeting, chaired by interim presidium chairman KP Munusamy, in the absence of an unwell full-time chairman Tamizhmagan Hussain, focused on election strategy. While keeping cadres guessing on final coalition combinations, EPS stated that deciding alliances ahead of elections was a usual process. He hit back at the ruling DMK for labelling the AIADMK-BJP pact a "communal alliance," questioning why the DMK had allied with the BJP in the past if it held that view.
EPS presented a vote-share analysis, stating that had the AIADMK and BJP contested the last parliamentary election together, they would have collectively secured 41.33% of the vote.
Comparing this to 2021, he argued this situation presents a chance to win significantly more seats, projecting a 210-seat victory for the alliance.
He accused the DMK government of electioneering, citing its recent promise of 10 lakh free laptops to college students.
He also alleged that DMK ministers facing corruption charges would "go to jail one by one." Furthermore, EPS claimed the DMK opposes a Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls—which proposes removing thousands of dubious names—to illegally retain these votes for the coming elections.
Asserting the AIADMK's autonomy, EPS declared the party is "neither a slave to the BJP nor to anyone." He also made a populist demand, urging the government to provide a Pongal gift of Rs 5,000 to each ration card holder.
