From zero to 5, PMK owes win to quota for Vanniyars

The Pattal-Makkal Katchi (PMK), which contested 23 seats as part of the AIADMK alliance in the State, managed to win or lead (until going to press) in five constituencies, thanks largely to the 10.5 percentage reservation announced for the Vanniyar community.

PMK, since 2006, has been one of the decisive forces in Tamil Nadu politics garnering an average of 5 percentage votes in all the elections the State witnessed. However, the party, due to the shift in its stand in supporting the cause of the Vanniyar community alone, lost the favour of other communities which resulted in zero seats in the last two elections.

The party, which was desperate to make a strong comeback in the 2021 assembly election, continued its alliance with AIADMK, which was forged during the 2019 Parliament election. Though PMK failed to win a single seat in the 2019 Parliament election, the party helped AIADMK win 9 out of 23 byelection seats and helped AIADMK retain government.

Hours before the announcement of the assembly election, AIADMK, with pressure from PMK, passed a Bill to provide a 10.5 percentage reservation for the Vanniyar community and the impact was felt in the northern districts. Apart from PMK, AIADMK too obtained the majority of support of the Vanniyar community which reflected in Dharmapuri and Salem districts where AIADMK won a majority of seats.

Even in other northern districts such as Cuddalore, PMK performed beyond their expectations as in the Vridachalam constituency they lost by a slender margin of 356 votes and in Neyveli constituency, they lost by 2.204 votes. Even in the Katpadi constituency, AIADMK constituency V Ramu put up a tough fight against DMK’s Duraimurugan due to the large presence of Vanniyar community people in the constituency.

However, PMK functionaries are not happy with the result. “Our votes have helped AIADMK win many constituencies in northern Tamil Nadu but AIADMK’s votes have not helped us win constituencies as we expected,” said a PMK functionary, requesting anonymity.