The DMK-led INDIA bloc swept the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu, warding off the BJP’s "southern push" despite a highly charged campaign led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who made eight visits to the state this year.
By late evening, the INDIA bloc was poised to win all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry, handing crushing defeats to the BJP-led NDA and the main state Opposition, the AIADMK.
The DMK was on course to win all the 22 seats it contested, including one in which it lent its symbol to the Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi. The Congress was set to win all the 10 seats allotted to it, nine in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry.
The CPI, CPM and the Dalit party VCK were headed to victory in two seats each, while the Indian Union Muslim League and the Vaiko-led MDMK seemed on their way to one win each.
The results are a huge setback for the BJP, which led the NDA in the state for the first time in a bid to marginalise the AIADMK ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
The AIADMK, led by former chief minister E.K. Palanisamy, came second in many constituencies and improved its vote share over the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, retaining its dominance over the BJP. The BJP came second in 10 seats.
The results have vindicated DMK chief minister M.K. Stalin and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who urged the people to save Indian democracy and the Constitution.
"Winning all 40 seats is a stupendous victory of the combined efforts of Stalin and Rahul Gandhi to protect democracy, secularism and their economic programmes," former state Congress president K.S. Azhagiri told The Telegraph.
Among the prominent INDIA winners are T.R. Baalu, Kanimozhi, Dayanidhi Maran, A. Raja and Arun Nehru (all DMK); Karti Chidambaram, Jyothimani and P. Manikkam Tagore (all Congress); Thol. Thirumavalavan (VCK); and Durai Vaiko (MDMK).
All the BJP’s star candidates — state president K. Annamalai, former Telangana and Puducherry governor T. Soundararajan, Union minister L. Murugan and former Union minister Pon. Radhakrishnan — lost.
