Before polls it was anticipated that the DMK could breach AIADMK citadel of Western Tamil Nadu, but results tell an opposite tale – of the ruling party consolidating its position here.

Even as the DMK clawed back its lost territory in other parts of Tamil Nadu, in the Western region continued to remain Amma Nadu, winning over 80 per cent of seats here.

In the western region including Coimbatore, Nilgris, Tirupur, Erode, Salem, Namakkal, Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri, the AIADMK won a whopping 45 seats of the total 57. The DMK, which was predicted to win more than half the seats by poll surveys, could manage only 10 seats and help its ally Congress win two seats.

It was a clean sweep of Erode by AIADMK, winning all the eight constituencies. The ruling party also dominated the districts of Coimbatore, Namakkal, Tirupur and Salem.

The DMK managed to win only one seat each in the four districts and the Congress won in Dharapuram (SC) in the Tirupur District.

The contest was close in districts of Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri, AIADMK nudged past the DMK and won 11 seats in these two districts. The DMK, however, wrested Nilgris by winning two in the Nilgris and its alliance partner Congress won Ooty. The DMK picked Gudalur.

While the caste factor largely helped the AIADMK, the PMK played the role of spoiler for the DMK with its Vanniyar vote. The PMK did not win, but pushed the DMK to third position in many constituencies — in Salem, Erode and Dharmapuri.

The DMK took its revenge, sweet one at that, when its candidate beat PMK’s chief ministerial candidate Anbumani Ramadoss in Penngram in Dharmapuri, that the former union health minister represents in the Lok Sabha. Ironically, it was in Pennagram that Anbumani Ramadoss scored maximum votes in the Lok Sabha elections and thought it was a safe seat.

Political analysts ascribe the DMK loss to Congress, which pulled the alliance partner down. There were as many as 11 Congress candidates in Western Tamil Nadu. The DMK itself lost 36 seats to the AIADMK in the region.

Attributing the AIADMK dominance to its traditional vote bank, writer and Political Analyst Gnani Sankaran said that breeding powerful and dynamic leaders like K.A. Sengottaiyan and Thoppu N.D. Venkatachalam helped the ruling party.

“This is no surprise and the AIADMK had always managed to retain the western region ever since the MGR regime,” he added.