The absence of proportional representation system in the election and the ‘partial’ approach of the Election Commission led to the rout of the DMK in the 2014 lok Sabha elections, according to the high-power committee of the party which met in Chennai for a brainstorming session to analyse the reasons behind the failure of its candidates to win a single seat out of 39 at stake from Tamil Nadu.
The meeting which was held in the backdrop of party chief M Karunanidhi’s 92nd birthday did not fail to wax eloquence on him describing him as the priceless gift India has been blessed with.
The resolution said the Election Commission did not take proper measures to prevent money distribution by the AIADMK cadre in the run-up to the election. What has upset the Karunanidhi clan is that though the DMK-led alliance polled 1.08 crore popular votes, the front failed to win at least a single seat. But the BJP-led alliance won two seats though the front polled 7.5 million votes.
The charge that the EC failed to check the AIADMK from distribution of money has to be taken with a pinch of salt, according to veteran DMK watchers. The Election Commission and the AIADMK had a running battle which went up to the Supreme Court and the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa herself going public about the stringent restrictions imposed by the commission led by Praveen Kumar, the Chief Electoral Officer. Interestingly, the election from the high-profile Varanasi constituency was held under the supervision of Kumar who was hand-picked by the ECI after the polling in Tamil Nadu.
The resolution is silent about the warning issued by MK Alagiri, Karunanidhi’s elder son, who was expelled from the party weeks before the lok Sabha election ‘for anti-party’ activities. Alagiri, who was eased out from the party by younger brother Stalin, had warned the party that the DMK would finish third in most of the constituencies as the party had selected wrong candidates overlooking those who had worked hard for the party.
G Satyamurty, veteran columnist, scoffed at the demand by the DMK for proportional representation in election. “The DMK is a beneficiary of the first-past-the post system all these years. Most of its victories in the past were only because of the first-past-the post syndrome. The party’s sudden love for proportional representation is because of its successive failures in the 2011 and 2014 elections,” Satyamurty told The Pioneer.
The reason for the failure of the DMK to win the public confidence was in display on Tuesday. Hundreds of party workers from all over the State made a beeline to the DMK headquarters in the Mount Road with gifts to greet the birthday boy.