DMK promises tablets, smartphones and prohibition
M Karunanidhi, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK) head, has released the party's election manifesto for the upcoming Tamil Nadu polls. The manifesto promises smartphones to poor people with 3G and 4G services and laptops to 16 lakh students among other things. DMK also promises liquor prohibition in the state, a promise also made by AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa. Notably, TN earns 1/3rd of its revenues from liquor.
The 2016 Tamil Nadu assembly elections are scheduled to take place on 16 May 2016. The polls are a part of 5 assembly polls (Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry). The counting for the polls will take place on 19th of May. The 234 seat Tamil Nadu assembly will see a multi-cornered contest between AIADMK, DMK-Congress alliance, BJP, and PWF-DMDK alliance.
The DMK tied up with the Congress for the forthcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The decision came after AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad and DMK chief M Karunanidhi held a meeting. Political commentators said that the renewed partnership between the DMK and Congress would be vital as the Congress "accounted for at least 5 per cent votes in the last elections."
The BJP has lost a number of its allies. While Vaiko joined the People's Welfare Alliance of Left parties, Eswaran's KMDK too left the BJP. The PMK adamant to have party founder S Ramadoss's son Anbumani as the CM candidate too distanced itself from the party. Another caste outfit, Maaveeran Theeran Chinnamalai Peravai of OBCs, has already announced support for AIADMK.
Opposition party leader Captain Vijayakant (DMDK) joined hands with the People Welfare Front. People's Welfare Front is an alliance between Vaiko's MDMK, Dalit party VCK and the two communist parties. Vijayakant's party will contest in 124 of the total 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, with remaining 110 seats going to the People Welfare Front. Vijayakant will also be projected as the Chief Ministerial candidate.
Leaving BJP alone in the upcoming Tamil Nadu polls, All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi leader R. Sarathkumar joined Jayalalitha's AIADMK. This move comes merely a month after he had left AIADMK to join NDA. Sarathkumar had held talks with BJP leader and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar but claimed that "there had been no progress on the front."
The DMK chief is meeting with Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to discuss the seat-sharing for the upcoming Tamil Nadu elections. While the Congress is seeking 63 seats, DMK is expected to offer 30. The DMK wants enough seats to secure a majority on its own; however, given DMK's failure to woo Captain Vijayakanth's DMDK into its camp, Congress will press for more.
The bargaining strength of the Congress in Tamil Nadu had been critically reduced by its poor performance in the 2011 elections where the party was given "63 seats in the 234-member assembly, but it won just 5."
After intense negotiations between the 2 key allies DMK and Congress, the two parties have reached a seat-sharing agreement. Congress, which was eyeing minimum 45 seats, was finally allotted 41 seats for the upcoming elections. Including Congress's allocation, DMK has so far allotted 54 seats to its allies. The DMK-Congress alliance aims to topple the ruling AIADMK led government in the upcoming assembly elections.
AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa, has allotted 7 of the 234 seats to its allies, leaving 227 seats for AIADMK to contest from. However, all 234 candidates will contest under AIADMK's party symbol of 2 leaves. Jayalalithaa herself will contest from R K Nagar constituency which lies north of Chennai city. Former Chief Minister, Panneerselvam, will contest from Bodinayakkanur.
The Election Commission had embarked upon a 2-pronged strategy to strengthen enforcement mechanism and promote ethical voting to suppress the money abuse in the upcoming TN polls on 16th May. The Assistant Commissioners (Income Tax) would be given special authorisation to act as Deputy Directors Investigation for detecting money abuse and taking action against people. EC would also increase the number of expenditure observers.
