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The 2014 Lok Sabha election is literally a “wash out” for the scam-hit Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which is also the main rival for the ruling J Jayalalithaa-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
DMK has not even got one seat in this election, while in the last election it managed to get 18 seats. Of the 39 seats, 32 were won by AIADMK, and in five seats the party was leading. One seat each has gone to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), leaving nothing to DMK.
DMK supremo M Karunanidhi said he accepted his party's defeat “with bowed head” and said the party had seen “defeats like this and also mega victories”. He also conveyed his party’s wishes to BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi over the “massive nationwide electoral victory”.
In 2014, DMK managed to garner 23.1 per cent (as at 5.30 pm) compared to 25.12 per cent in 2009.
This is also the first election after DMK supremo Karunanidhi announced his younger son M K Stalin as the heir to the party. While Stalin has travelled extensively by road to each and every corner of the state, with the election campaign, his father chose only a few key constituencies to campaign.
Stalin’s emergence in the party, on the other hand, has also resulted in the ouster of his elder brother M K Alagiri, who was Union minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers in United Progressive Alliance-II, from the party just before the election. Alagiri had asked his followers and supporters to ensure that DMK lost this election.
| DMK candidate | Constituency | Winner | Winning party | Margin | Status |
| A Raja | Nilgiris | C Gopalakrishnan | AIADMK | 104,940 | Results declared |
| Dayanidhi Maran | Chennai Central | S R Vijayakumar | AIADMK | 43,336 | Counting in progress |
| T R Baalu | Thanjavur | K Parasuraman | AIADMK | 145,779 | Counting in progress |
| T K S Elganovan | Chennai South | J Jayavardhan | AIADMK | 21,497 | Counting in progress |
| S Jagathrakshakan | Sripermbudur | K N Ramachandran | AIADMK | 86,120 | Counting in progress |
| V Velusamy | Madurai | R Gopalakrishnan | AIADMK | 156,406 | Counting in progress |
DMK has been a key ally of the Congress in the till 2013. The party fought the 2009 election along with the Congress. However in 2014 election, while Congress went alone, DMK joined hands with regional parties. Some of the high profile DMK candidates who lost in this election include former Union minister A Raja (lost by 1,04,940 votes to AIADMK), who was sent to prison in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. He was contesting from Nilgiris.
Central Chennai, which has been the fort of the Maran's for the last 35 years, fell in the hands of AIADMK. Late Union minister and DMK leader Murasoli Maran won five times from this constituency and after his death his younger son Dayanidhi Maran was elected twice. DMK leader and former Union minister T R Baalu, S Jagathrakshakan are other key figures who have lost in this election.
