On Friday, Chennai found out it had voted like the rest of the State, indeed. The key features were the same: AIADMK swept the six constituencies in and around Chennai, the DMK was routed, and the BJP was jubilant nevertheless.
Counting was peaceful, no untoward incidents occurred as the police kept a keen watch on areas where parties other than the AIADMK were expected to win.
However, belying all expectations, and putting paid to all predictions, AIADMK mopped up the board and dejected cadre of other parties all but deserted the counting centres, and in some instances, even abandoned the party offices.
Counting began at 8 a.m., on schedule, but the first lead positions started trickling in only an hour later. The first set of leads came from Chennai Central constituency, indicating the downswing of the DMK which had held the constituency since 1996. It was also an indication of how the election would swing.
At the counting centres, as round after round of lead positions were declared, cadre of other parties slowly melted away in deep disappointment. While scenes of wild jubilation broke out at the AIADMK party office, it was understandably quiet at the DMK headquarters. DMDK and Congress headquarters wore a deserted look by late afternoon.
Unlike in other parts of the country where results emerged quickly, the lead positions in Tamil Nadu literally crawled. The first result to come from the city was the victory of S.R. Vijaya Kumar over Dayanidhi Maran, but by then, the trends were pretty clear.
Soon after, in Tiruvallur too, the AIADMK candidate’s victory was declared. The results of Alandur were available pretty late in the day.
Chennai North and South constituencies, however, dragged on, for various reasons, including small counting rooms, and fewer tables. Sriperumbudur too dragged on late into the night.
The overwhelming feeling was that the AIADMK had come up trumps thanks to the several welfare schemes launched by the government, chief among them, the Amma canteen. Providing good quality food at affordable rates to all seems to have been a master stroke.
The city will now settle down after the excitement of the elections, but it will wait for the Members of Parliament it elected to deliver on their promises.
And, it will keep a watch on them — something the winners will be wise to remember, especially in a year when the voters have shown what they can achieve.
(With inputs from Aloysius Xavier Lopez, K. Manikandan, R. Srikanth, V. Venkatasubramanian, T. Madhavan, P. Oppili and Petlee Peter)
