DMK set to sweep Tamil Nadu as party takes early leads in 22 seats; Kanimozhi, A Raja, Karti Chidambaram ahead

Chennai: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) looked set to sweep Tamil Nadu as the party took early leads in 22 of the 38  Parliamentary seats that voted in the Lok Sabha elections 2019. As of 11.45 am, Congress was leading on eight seats while the AIADMK had taken lead in just one seat. The CPI and CPI(M) were ahead in two seats each and IUML, PMK and VCK were leading on one seat each, according to the Election Commission's official website.

Soon after early numbers started trickling in, celebrations broke out outside DMK headquarters in Chennai. By noon the DMK was leading in Viluppuram, Tiruvannamalai, Tirunelveli, Thoothukkudi, Thanjavur, Tenkasi, Sriperumbudur, Salem, Pollachi, Perambalur, Nilgiris, Namakkal, Mayiladuthurai, Kancheepuram, Kallakurichi, Erode, Dindigul, Cuddalore, Chennai South, Chennai North, Chennai central Dayanidhi Maran, Arakkonam.

Among prominent faces in the party leadership, TR Baalu took a lead from Sriperumbudur along with A Raja from Nilgiris and Dayanidhi Maran from Chennai central. In Sivaganga, Congress candidate Karti P Chidambaram was leading against his BJP rival H Raja. In Thoothukudi DMK's Kanimozhi is leading against her closest rival BJP's Tamilisai Soundararajan with a margin of over 86000 votes.

The DMK has supported Congress under the pre-poll alliance under the UPA umbrella. Elections in Vellore constituency were cancelled by the Election Commission after a large amount of cash was seized during a raid.