BeyondHeadlines News Desk
New Delhi: Counting of votes for the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly is underway with early trends indicating that the DMK combine is all set to be ousted from power by the AIADMK. Kalaingar’s party coalition is ahead in only 38 seats, while Jayalalithaa and allies are leading in 195 seats.
Among the key candidates Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, KV Thangkabalu, KN Nehru, N Pongalur Palanisamy, MP Saminathan, EV Velu, and MK Vishnu Prasad are trailing behind in Tiruvarur, Mylapore, Tiruchirappalli (West), Coimbatore South, Madathukulam, Tiruvannamalai and Cheyyar constituencies respectively. MK Stalin and Vijaykant are leading in Kolathur and Rishivandiyarn constituencies respectively.
Around 78 percent of the 47 million voters of the state exercised their franchise to decide the fate of 2,748 contestants.
The huge turnout in the elections puzzled the leaders of DMK and AIADMK fronts, with each interpreting it as a trend in their favour.
Both DMK president M Karunanidhi and AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa are understood to have finalised their teams in case they were voted to power.