Tamil Nadu election results 2021: Smaller parties swayed outcome in many seats

Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) and TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) bagged 2.52% and 2.35% vote share respectively

MK Stalin-led DMK will be returning to power after a hiatus of 10 years, defeating the ruling AIADMK in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections on May 2. Around 85 percent of the vote share in Tamil Nadu were bagged by DMK and AIADMK, while the smaller parties failed to win a single seat.

Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) and TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) bagged 2.52 percent and 2.35 percent vote share respectively. However, they managed enough votes to swerve the results in several seats.

AMMK drew its votes from the traditional AIADMK vote bank. This hurt the incumbent party's prospects, especially in close contests, in 20-odd seats.

Even though the AIADMK alliance managed to get a vote share of more than 39 percent this time as against 40.88 percent in 2016, these 20 seats would have improved its position.

Tamil nationalist leader Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) failed to win a seat, but improved its vote share to 6.58 percent — up from one percent in the last assembly election and four percent in the 2019 parliamentary elections. The party made a difference in the election as it affected the calculations of both the DMK and the AIADMK in many seats.