The Dharmapuri Assembly segment is headed for a three-cornered contest among the Pattali Makkal Katchi (AIADMK front), Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMK alliance) and the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), with the TVK poised to tip the scales in favour of the winner here.
The Assembly constituency is closely watched for the PMK candidate Sowmiya Anbumani, whose maiden electoral performance in 2024 Lok Sabha elections for Dharmapuri Parliamentary constituency witnessed her tough and impressive fight, only to be defeated by the DMK by a mere 20,000 vote margin.
The constituency is regarded as a PMK stronghold and a ‘safe-seat’ for Ms. Sowmiya. However, the ground in this PMK’s ‘safe-seat’ appears to be shifting in favour of the TVK.
The PMK up until now is seen as a formidable force in this belt, where the Vanniyar majority population has voted for the ‘Mango’ instinctively irrespective of the candidate. It is precisely for the reasons of the PMK’s clout with the majority Vanniyar voter population that a significant erosion of those majority votes to the TVK will be primarily felt by the PMK here.
The PMK had also grown and rested its strength on its youth base, articulating their aspirational anxieties. Those voters, young women and men, whose only known choice of vote was for the PMK are now vocalising a shift to the TVK without a pause. If they were initiated into the electoral process by an en masse familial vote for the “Mango”, today, these youth, primarily first-time voters are promising to sway the votes of their families for the TVK. This aspirational youth base, which was at the receiving end of a forever shifting alliances, is speaking of shifting its allegiance to the TVK to “give Vijay a chance”; and is deciding to choose on its own.
