DMK Candidates call on Stalin ahead of counting

With the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections completed on April 23 and counting scheduled for May 4, candidates of the DMK met Chief Minister and party president M.K. Stalin at the party headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, in Chennai on Thursday.
The meeting comes amid a wave of post-election exit polls released on Wednesday, many of which indicate a likely return of the DMK-led alliance to power.
Among those who called on Stalin were General Secretary Durai Murugan and Ministers M.R.K. Panneerselvam, E.V. Velu, K.R. Periyakaruppan, S. Muthusamy, C.V. Meiyanathan, C.V. Ganesan and Senthilbalaji. Party functionaries including S. Austin, T.J. Govindarajan, Sabha Rajendran, Namakkal Rani, Katharbatsa Muthuramalingam, K.S. Moorthy, R. Mahesh, A. Tamilarasi, S.A. Sathya, M. Manikandan and Puducherry R. Siva were also
present.
Organising Secretary R.S. Bharathi, Press Secretary D.K.S. Ilangovan and Head Office Secretary Poochimurugan attended the interaction.
The Assembly election witnessed a four-cornered contest involving the ruling DMK alliance, the AIADMK-BJP alliance, Naam Tamilar Party led by Seeman, and Tamil Nadu Victory Party led by Vijay. A total of 4,023 candidates contested across 234 constituencies.
Polling was conducted in a single phase, recording a voter turnout of 84.51 percent, the highest in the State’s 74-year electoral history.
This election was also the first to be held after the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral roll in Tamil Nadu.
Exit polls broadly suggest an advantage for the DMK alliance as the State awaits the final verdict on May 4.