As the 2026
Tamil Nadu assembly election nears, parties are scrambling to build alliances. While
DMK and
AIADMK continue to profess their ideologies steeped in Dravidian philosophy of social justice, regional autonomy and Tamil pride, their past performances show how much they have relied also on the strength of their partners.
The 2026 electoral arena is likely to see four fronts, the biggest being the DMK-led alliance. After its 2021 victory in a grand alliance, DMK led by M K Stalin hopes to have an encore. DMDK and the divided PMK have yet to declare their alliances, and the AIADMK-led NDA is expected to woo both. With AIADMK unlikely to tie up with TVK, the Vijay-led debutant may go with a few minor partners.
“Strong alliances have brought victory and will always bring victory,” says DMK spokesman T K S Elangovan. In 1967, DMK swept the polls. It was the first time a large coalition led by DMK, steered by C N Annadurai and backed by five national parties, emerged as a major force.
Anna’s mentor E V Ramasamy Periyar and his Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) threw his weight behind Indian National Congress (INC) led by M Bhakthavatsalam. DMK’s enduring relationship with the Tamil film industry helped it come down hard on Congress policies and popularise its own political philosophy.
With weeks to go for the assembly election, a murder attempt shook Tamil Nadu. Actor M R Radha opened fire at MGR at his Chennai home. Hell broke loose as fans went on the rampage. The DMK-led alliance won 179 of the 234 seats; Congress won 51. Did the gun shot at MGR or the alliance help DMK win? The jury is still out.
“In 1967, Anna’s strategy was to try a different kind of coalition politics. He called it ‘therthal udanpadu’ (electoral agreement),” says DK leader K Veeramani. “The common enemy of the DMK-led alliance then was Congress. So many were part of it, including the communists and the Muslim League.” Everyone was united by a single goal: defeat Congress. “Ideology was the base for the DMK alliance. That continues,” says Veeramani.
In 1971, it formed a seven-party coalition including INC (Indira), which did not contest the assembly election as part of a pact with DMK. The alliance won again, taking 205 seats. In 1977, MGR’s AIADMK made its debut with a four-party alliance and won 144 seats, while the DMK, contesting on its own, got only 48.
In 1980, the AIADMK-led five-party front won 162 seats while the Congress-DMK alliance secured 69. In 1984, the AIADMK-Congress alliance won 195 seats, leaving the DMK-led combine with just 34. In 1989, a three-party DMK alliance returned to power, defeating a split AIADMK led by J Jayalalithaa and Janaki Ramachandran.
In 1991, AIADMK and Congress swept the polls on the sympathy wave after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, giving Jayalalithaa her first major victory. The tide turned in 1996 when corruption charges against her dominated the campaign. The DMK allied with G K Moopanar’s TMC and won.
In 2001, a nine-party AIADMK front defeated the DMK-Congress alliance; five years later, DMK returned with Congress by its side. AIADMK won back-to-back in 2011 and 2016, the first with an 11-party partnership that included DMDK.
It was only in 2016 that AIADMK bucked the trend and contested all 234 seats on its own, winning a second straight term with 136 seats. The 2G scam and poor coordination between DMK and Congress were blamed for their defeat, as was the rise of a new third front, the Makkal Nala Kootani, which brought together DMDK, MDMK, TMC, CPI, CPM and VCK.
“An alliance is only as strong as its chemistry,” says DMK spokesman Manu Shunmugasundaram. “The INDIA bloc has won several assembly elections since 2017. We share an ideological bond that translates into cooperation among cadres. The opposition alliance has been formed out of compulsion, not camaraderie. One of the strengths of the present DMK govt is its unbeatable alliance arithmetic.”
Allies bring ground muscle, caste strength and finances. But will alliance math be enough for the DMK-led front in 2026? TVK may emerge as a serious challenger, say Vijay associates. “If strong alliances make for a winning formula, how did AIADMK win in 2016?” asks BJP chief spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy. He says if Vijay teams up with NDA, it will be a clean sweep. AIADMK leaders say veteran leader K A Sengottaiyan joining TVK closes the Vijay option for AIADMK. “TVK is now an ‘N Board’ (Not on Board) option for AIADMK,” says a former AIADMK minister. “Now that Sengottaiyan has joined TVK, AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran and O Panneerselvam too are likely to team up with them.”
BJP is confident that its alliance with AIADMK is a winning combination. “AIADMK is the number one party in TN, and DMK comes second. The third largest party is BJP. Hence, No. 1 and No. 3 combined is stronger. All DMK allies’ vote share is lower than BJP’s in TN. Anti-incumbency is at large,” says Narayanan.
Anti-incumbency and Vijay’s growing popularity may prove an advantage for the opposition. But a splintered opposition may well tilt the scale in DMK’s favour.
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