NEW DELHI: Regional All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK) candidates in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu had the most successful run in the 1989 Parliamentary Poll while the independents fared the worst.
Thanks to an alliance with Congress-I AIADMK won all the 11 seats it contested while of the 3518 independents only 12 made it to the ninth Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament).
The success rate of the Congress-I itself dropped to 38.41% to bring down its strength from 415 in the eighth Lok Sabha to 194 and its share of popular vote declined by 8.77% from the previous 48.1%.
Among the non-congress parties the Janata Dal secured the highest tally of 145 seats This was in sharp contrast to the position in the eighth Lok Sabha in which the highest number of seats held by anon-congress panty was 28 by the Telegu Desam.
In the 1989 polls the TDP could win only two seats and the Indian congress (secular) one seat as against Janata Dal’s 142. Together the National Front won 145 seats. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) drew a blank in Tamil Nadu while AIADMK won all the eleven seats it contested.
The rightwing Bhartiya Janata Party emerged second among the non-congress parties after the Janata Dal. It increased its strength from two in the eighth Lok Sabha to 86 in the ninth with a success ratio of 38.05:%.
Ranking third among non-congress parties the communist party of India (Marxist) won 32 of the 63 seats contested while the communist party of India (CPI) increased its strength to 11 seats in the 1989 polls as against six in the 1984 elections.
Others won 33 seats with a low success ratio of 3.2%.
The most dismal performance however was that of 3518 independent candidates’ who could win just 12 seats.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 29, 1991
