Convincing wins in select pockets keep AMMK in contention for 2021

AMMK fielded its candidates only in select pockets and in all these districts, the party is believed to have played spoilsport for the aspiring AIADMK councillors. According to latest reports, the AMMK had secured close to 100 council posts defeating the AIADMK and DMK. Though it is a very small number, the AMMK functionaries feel the opening of accounts as silver lining, as the party faced a rout in the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly by-polls.

“We have won comfortably in several panchayats and union council posts. In a lot of areas, the counting is delayed and we are waiting for positive results,” AMMK leader P Vettrivel told DT Next.

“Maximum injustice was meted out to the AMMK by the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission and we were forced to contest as independents despite being a registered party. We never induced voters like the AIADMK or the DMK, the votes secured by the AMMK are from the public who believe in the system of democratic elections,” Vettrivel noted. The AMMK will create a dent in the AIADMK vote share and we will soon decide on the next course of action, when the indirect polls are held on January 11, the former MLA added.

According to former AIADMK MP KC Palaniswami, the AIADMK should have done better under the leadership of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, but the controversial CAA introduced by Home Minister Amit Shah had pulled down the AIADMK’s performance in the state. During the Vellore Lok Sabha polls, it was the alliance with BJP that dented our victory and now again the AIADMK is losing itsrural votes and the minority votes that were intact during the days of party icons MGR and J Jayalalithaa, the former MP noted.

The AIADMK always enjoy the rural votes and is a popular party among the gram panchayats, whereas the DMK enjoys the vote bank in corporation and municipal areas. It seems that the AIADMK is taking a beat in its traditional rural pockets and this is certainly a setback for the ruling AIADMK, opined political commentator R Mani. These results should be a prelude for the 2021 state polls and both the DMK and the AIADMK should carry out necessary corrections to improve their performance in next year Assembly elections, he added.