In Tamil Nadu, DMK and allies poised for big win in most seats

Chennai: Out of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu, the DMK and allies have so far sustained their lead position in 34 seats, according to updates on trends by the Election Commission.

The main opposition party, AIADMK is leading in just two seats (Namakkal--S Tamilmani and Kallakurichi--R Kumaraguru) and BJP's ally PMK (Sowmiya Anbumani) is ahead in Dharmapuri. IAS officer-turned-politician Sasikanth Senthil (Congress) is leading in Tiruvallur.

Though no BJP candidate is leading anywhere, for the very first time, the BJP has nearly clocked 9 per cent (8.75 as per data available till 10.30 am) of vote share and may reach the double digit mark.

In both Coimbatore and Nilgiris, BJP's K Annamalai and L Murugan are trailing behind DMK candidates Ganapathy P Rajkumar and A Raja.

DMK and its allies Congress, VCK, IUML, MDMK, CPI and CPI(M) are together ahead in 34 segments with the AIADMK and PMK leading in two and one seats respectively. The trends for two other seats are not yet clear.

In Erode, where the AIADMK pinned its hopes on its candidate Aatral Ashok Kumar is trailing behind DMK's KE Prakash.

DMK's star candidates Kanimozhi (Thoothukudi), T R Baalu (Sriperumbudur), Dayanidhi Maran (Central Chennai), Tamizhachi Thangapandian (South Chennai) are leading in their respective constituencies.

The DMK took an early lead in a number of constituencies across Tamil Nadu as election officials first took up the count of postal ballots at 8 am on Tuesday.

From 8.30 am, when count of EVM votes were taken up with the completion of count of postal ballots between 8 am and 8.30 am the initial trends from across Tamil Nadu indicated a clear advantage for the DMK and its allies and they continue to be ahead by comfortable margins.

Allies of the DMK including Congress party's Karti Chidambaram (Sivaganga) and Marxist party candidate Su Venkatesan (Madurai) have a decisive lead over others.