As Tamil Nadu gears up for another high-stakes election, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has stitched together its seat-sharing plan. The arrangement was finalised in Chennai with key leaders including Edappadi K Palaniswami and Piyush Goyal present. Under the deal, the BJP will contest more seats than last time, while the AIADMK continues to hold the largest share. Several regional parties have also joined the alliance.
A flopped experiment in 2001?
While alliances are common in Tamil Nadu politics, there was a time when the BJP joined hands with its current rival, the DMK. This happened only once during the 2001 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The partnership was seen as unusual, bringing together two parties with very different political bases. The BJP contested a limited number of seats as part of the DMK-led front.
What was the result?
The alliance, however, failed to deliver results. The DMK managed to win a modest number of seats, while the BJP secured only a handful. In contrast, the election was dominated by J Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK-led alliance, which swept to power with a massive majority. The DMK-BJP combine was left far behind, marking a clear defeat for the experiment.
- DMK won 31 seats
- BJP won 4 seats
Several factors worked against the DMK-BJP partnership at the time. Key allies had shifted sides before the election, weakening the coalition. At the same time, the AIADMK-led front grew stronger by bringing together multiple parties.
There was also a noticeable shift in voter mood, which favoured the AIADMK alliance and left the DMK-BJP combine struggling to gain traction.
Why it still matters today?
The 2001 election remains significant because it was the first and only time the BJP and DMK contested together in Tamil Nadu. Since then, both parties have taken completely different political paths and are now on opposite sides of the spectrum.
2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls
In the previous elections, the AIADMK had contested 191 seats, winning 66 of them. Despite this, the party was hell-bent on contesting the same number of seats. Quoting a senior AIADMK leader, news agency PTI had reported last week that the party wants to secure a clear majority on its own in the coastal state, and that's why it was keen on contesting as many seats as possible.
Coming to the BJP, the saffron party had contested 20 seats in 2021, winning just four of them. These were Coimbatore South, Tirunelveli, Nagercoil, and Modakkurichi. It must be mentioned here that the BJP was looking to contest 30 seats this time but has been given 27.
The polling for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 23. The results will be declared by the Election Commission of India (ECI), along with those in West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, and the Union Territory (UT) of Puducherry, on May 4.
