Politics
With Opinion Polls Giving an Edge to DMK in Tamil Nadu, AIADMK Goes on the Backfoot
File photo of Tamil Nadu CM E Palaniswami (left) and deputy O Panneerselvam.
In a joint statement, the AIADMK coordinator and joint coordinator said opinion polls have become tools of imposition of opinion instead of being a barometer of public sentiment ahead of elections.
- CNN-News18 Chennai
- Last Updated:March 31, 2021, 20:36 IST
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In the run up to the Tamil Nadu elections, AIADMK’s leaders Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam have made an appeal to the electorate to not go by opinion polls run by news channels broadcasting in the state. In a joint statement, the AIADMK coordinator and joint coordinator said opinion polls have become tools of imposition of opinion instead of being a barometer of public sentiment ahead of elections.
In their letter, Palaniswami and Panneerselvam questioned rhetorically: “Don’t we all know that many of these predictions made by the media have been proven wrong at the elections?”
Recently, the Tamil Nadu news media have put out opinion polls that suggest the DMK has gained an edge. The opinion polls also seem to say that outlying contenders such as Kamal Haasan, Tamil nationalist Seeman, and VK Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dhinakaran will cause some disruption to the vote banks of the Dravidian parties AIADMK and DMK.
The AIADMK is facing elections without the starpower of J Jayalalithaa, riding on the popularity of her lesser-known lieutenants Panneerselvam and Palaniswami. The DMK, meanwhile, has leveraged the AIADMK’s submissive attitude towards the BJP to its advantage. The AIADMK is also speculated to be hurtling toward a major leadership crisis after elections, with VK Sasikala biding her time to take over the party. Tamil Nadu will go to polls on April 6.
