DMK alliance all set to win all three Rajya Sabha seats

The DMK alliance’s present strength in the assembly gives it an opportunity to corner all the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats whenever by-elections are declared.

The vacancies were created due to death of AIADMK MP Mohammedjan in March and due to the resignation of K P Munusamy and R Vaithiyalingam as MPs after both were elected as MLAs in the recent assembly elections.

The Rajya Sabha has a total of 13 vacancies, of which three are from Tamil Nadu.

The election to Rajya Sabha depends on the number of vacancies to be filled and each party’s strength in the respective assembly. The value of each MLA’s vote is 58, which is enough for the DMK to bag all the three seats.

Currently, DMK and its partners have eight seats in the Rajya Sabha while AIADMK and its alliance partners have 7. A total of 5 MPs are to retire next year. Of which three belong to the AIADMK and 2 to the DMK.

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DMK and its alliance partners have 159 seats in the 16th assembly. While Vaithyalingam was to retire in June next year, Munusamy had more years before retirement.

Again going by the present strength of parties, out of the 5 vacancies, DMK alliance will be able to corner 4 and AIAMDK just 1. Thus, in 2022, the total strength of DMK alliance in the Rajya Sabha will increase to 12 and that of AIADMK will be reduced to 6.

As a result, the total strength of DMK and its alliance partners in both houses of Parliament will increase to 50 while that of AIADMK and its alliance will be just 7, as it has only one seat in the Lok Sabha.

It is evident that the tables have turned in favour of DMK after its extraordinary performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha election as well as in the recent assembly elections.

The AIADMK had 50 MPs in both houses of Parliament after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when its candidates won 37 seats and DMK and its partners failed to win a single seat. But since the 2016 assembly elections and the 2019 Parliamentary elections, the strength of AIADMK has been declining continuously.