Narrow miss for DMK in capturing power: M Karunanidhi

CHENNAI: Citing electoral statistics, DMK chief Karunanidhi today said AIADMK has retained power in Tamil Nadu by a margin of just 1.1 vote percentage and his party missed a clear victory by a narrow gap.

He said his party would function as a constructive Opposition.

Referring to total votes polled for AIADMK and DMK and respective allies, he said the ruling party had got only 4,41,646 votes more than his party and said the opportunity to govern was missed narrowly.

"While AIADMK and allies polled 1,76,17,060 votes, DMK and its allies got 1,71,75,374. That is, AIADMK has got the opportunity to form government by a margin of 1.1 per cent and it is the truth," he said in a statement.

Citing electoral statistics, including vote share and contested vote share of his party and AIADMK, he said "there was only a very small gap in touching pinnacle of victory."

He also referred to a report published in an English daily which said DMK was ahead of AIADMK in contested vote share.

He said in 172 constituencies where there was a direct fight between AIADMK and DMK, his party emerged victorious in 89 seats and AIADMK won 83 seats.

However, he said, AIADMK won in 51 out of the 60 seats contested by the allies of DMK including the Congress and IUML.

"I am saying this only to show that people came forward to support DMK and not for blaming the allies," he said.

The nonagenarian leader, however, said his party would function as a robust Opposition given the historic huge numbers in the annals of Tamil Nadu assembly history.

"DMK has got the opportunity to function as a robust opposition with a never before seen strength in the history of Tamil Nadu," he said.

While the DMK-led alliance together won 98 seats, the Karunanidhi-led party had got 89 seats, followed by eight seats of ally Congress and one IUML.