The DMDK led by film actor-turned-politician Vijayakant is all set to lose its recognition as a State party by the Election Commission of India (ECI) following its failure to win at least a single seat in the recently-held election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly. According to Election Commission officials, the order cancelling the recognition of the DMDK would be issued immediately. Stung by the failure of his party to win at least a single seat in the election, Vijayakant is all set to return to the world he originally belongs — the world of films. He has started acting in a Tamil movie.
The ECI rules stipulate that a party would be recognised as a State party if that party has at least one member in the legislative Assembly of that State for every 30 members of that Assembly or any fraction of that number. Since Tamil Nadu Assembly has a total strength of 234, the DMDK should have won a minimum of seven seats to be recognised as a State party. The DMDK was literally wioed out in the State with Vijayakanth himself finishing a poor third in Ulund-urpet Assembly constituency. The DMDK was the most sought after political party in Tamil Nadu prior to the 2016 Assembly election.
The BJP, the DMK and the PWF were vying with one another to include the DMDK in their respective alliances. In the outgoing Assembly, Vijayakanth was the leader of the opposition since he DMDK had 29 members. But with nine MlAs leaving him midway, Vijayakant lost the status as the leader of the Opposition towards the end of the 2011-2016 tenure of the Assembly. Vijayakant had formed the DMDK in 2005 with the claim that the party would be an effective alternative to the two Dravidian majors who were ruling Tamil Nadu between them for the last five decades. Though he finished with just one seat in the 2006 assembly election, Vijayak-ant caused havoc in the AIADMK camp by cutting into the vote share of the latter. This made Jayalalithaa align with him in the 2011 Assembly election which played rich dividends to both the parties. The DMDK elbowed out the DMK to the third position and Vijayakant became the leader of the Opposition. But he fell out with Amma within six months and had challenged the AIAD-MK leader that his party would finish off the AIADMK in next election.