‘DMK to Contest 2021 Tamil Nadu Polls With Kishor’s I-PAC’: Stalin

Year 2021 will see the first election in Tamil Nadu since the demise of J Jayalalitha and M Karunanidhi.

MK Stalin.

(Photo: The Quint)

DMK President MK Stalin, on Sunday, 2 February, announced that his party will be teaming up with Prashant Kishor’s I-PAC for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections next year, in 2021.

“Happy to share that many bright & like-minded young professionals of Tamil Nadu are joining us under the banner of @IndianPAC to work with us on our 2021 election and help shape our plans to restore TN to its former glory!,” Stalin said in a tweet on Sunday.

Prashant Kishor’s company also thanked Stalin for the opportunity. Responding to the Tamil Nadu politician’s tweet, I-PAC said that the team is "excited to work with DMK to secure an emphatic victory in the 2021 polls and contribute in putting the state back on the path of progress and prosperity under your leadership”.

The current state Assembly’s term expires in May 2021, when the next Assembly polls in the south Indian state are to take place. The AIADMK came to power in the state in 2016, when the Jayalalitha-led AIADMK beat Karunanidhi-led DMK in a clean sweep, winning 134 seats in the 234 member Assembly. Jayalalitha came to power as the chief minister, after her party became the first ever party to be re-elected in the state.

The 2021 polls will be the first ever election in Tamil Nadu after the death of the two bigwigs - Jayalalitha and M Karunanidhi, who had helmed the politics in the state for the past few decades. 

While Jayalalitha passed away in December 2016, while Karunanidhi died of prolonged ailment in August 2018.