The eightyseven-year old Mr Karunanidhi counts on his old magic of gifts for voters, expanded in variety this time, to work in his favour as in 2006, also given his record of near fulfillment of promises. No less fierce in her extensive campaigning, heading the AIDMK-led alliance, Ms. Jayalalithaa has urged the 45 million voters of Tamil Nadu to throw out the regime of a “tainted family” enriching itself at the expense of people, ignoring their basic problems of high prices, severe power cuts and lack of protection against criminal forces.

Not to take chances with the wiles of the 'Kalaignar', the “puratchi thalaivi” (revolutionary leader) more than matched his freebies with a host of consumer durables along with four grams of gold for the poor and a mix of concessions for students and senior citizens. However, the thrust of her utterances is the promise to bring about all-round development of Tamil Nadu without raiding the exchequer.

Like Congress in the DMK-led alliance, Ms. Jayalalithaa has a powerful ally in DMDK of charismatic “Captain” Vijayakanth who wields considerable influence in the northern and central regions with major segment of ‘vanniar’ community to complement AIADMK’s traditional strongholds, especially in western region. The rival formations look evenly balanced with some surveys tending to put the AIDMK-led alliance ahead.

Acutely conscious of the slippery ground with the infamy from the Raja episode, Mr Karunanidhi has gone all over the state to mobilise support in rural areas invoking Dravidian heritage and cautioning against machinations of “non-Tamil” elements (mainly Brahmins). He banks on the support of all other castes, especially Dalits by placating the VCK of Mr Thirumavalavan, allotted ten seats

The mess that UPA-II has created for itself through ineffective governance and mismanagement at the macro-level, with corruption scandals one after the other, has forced the Congress to seek safety in office by going along with DMK in Tamil Nadu and TMC in West Bengal. No wonder that Ms. Sonia Gandhi had to make an appearance by the side of ‘Kalaignar” at an election rally on April 5 asking the people to vote for DMK-led alliance (read UPA) on the basis of its “performance”.

For Ms. Gandhi, it was a brief interlude, dictated by political compulsion, on her way to campaigning in Kerala where her tune was for a “change” by the people voting for the Congress-led UDF even as the ruling Left Front (LDF) tries hard to nullify the anti-incumbency factor.

Given the heightened political rivalries and the free use of money power in recent by-polls in Tamil Nadu, the Election Commission had set in motion unprecedented steps for the safe conduct of free and fair elections on April 13, through large-scale transfers of senior officials thought to be biased in favour of the ruling party, and deployment of security forces to the widest possible extent covering all sensitive polling centres.

Tax officials had been involved to track the flow of cash and there were reports of cases of seizures of cash in transit without being properly accounted for. A major haul was the seizure of over Rs. five crores from a private bus in Tiruchi on April 5, taking the total till then to over rs.22 crores, according to the Chief Electoral Officer Mr Praveen Kumar, apart from crores worth of dhotis and saris intended for distribution at various places.

The Left parties (CPI-M) and CPI), contesting a total of 22 seats, as part of AIDMK-led alliance are confident that voters would overthrow the DMK regime which they charged had “institutionalized corruption” and they expect a defeat of DMK-Congress alliance to impact on national politics. The BJP, seeing the Congress-DMK forced on the defensive by corruption scandals, is trying to secure a “significant foothold' in Tamil Nadu politics. Leading a vigorous campaign, Ms. Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, was confident that the party would make its first entry into the State Assembly with at least ten seats. In alliance with BJP, the Janata party of Dr Subramanian Swamy, has put up 15 candidates.

The poll outcome will be known on May 13. Even if the ruling alliance manages to get back, DMK by itself would not have absolute majority and would have to accommodate the Congress for power-sharing which it had resisted so far but now seems willing to embrace “to make up for any shortfall”. That the Congress is keen to ensure the run of UPA-II till 2014, at any cost, is reflected in the participation, though somewhat belated, of its leading partymen including Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad to highlight the “benefits” of continuity in the State. Even a reluctant warrior to take the side of DMK, Mr Rahul Gandhi while addressing a few meetings in support of youth congress candidates, listed rice at Rs. one per kg and UPA-funded social programmes undertaken by DMK Government to make the case for continuing “partnership” between the Congress and ‘Kalaignar”.

Ms. Jayalalithaa has put up her own party candidates in 160 constituencies including Chennai and other major urban centres sharing the rest with other parties including Capt. Vijaykanth’s DMDK (41 seats). There will be 87 straight contests between DMK and AIDMK. The Captain, campaigning hard, has acknowledged that Ms. Jayalalithaa would be the Chief Minister and his party is not seeking to share power.

DMK is contesting in about 120 constituencies and Mr Karunanidhi says that with Congress, it is a “people’s alliance” which was formed to promote the development of the state and “not for reaping the benefits of power”. At one stage in his extended campaign, Mr Karunanidhi, with a stoop-to-conquer candour, remarked, “even if you throw us out, forgetting all that we did for you, we will always stand by you”.

This election has proved the severest test for Mr Karunanidhi in his stewardship of the party over five decades, after the late C N Annadurai who formed the first DMK Government in 1967 ending the era of Congress rule in the State. The Congress-DMK alliance formed in 2004 was on the brink of collapse when Mr Karunanidhi threatened to withdraw from the UPA Government at the Centre in March if the Congress insisted on contesting for more than 60 seats

Mr Karunanidhi was under no illusion that DMK by itself could sweep the polls and he could not discount the possibility of a Congress-AIADMK alliance instead. Finally he yielded to the Congress demand for 63 seats but what caused him acute discomfort was the Election Commission’s strict enforcement of the model code of conduct for parties and sudden transfer orders for top officials and other measures to deploy forces on large=scale to ensure peaceful poll processes.

Mr Karunanidhi attacked the election commission for its 'over-reach' and said he felt as if an emergency was in force and he also wondered whether he or the election commission was in charge of the state. The Madras High Court on a petition upheld the Election Commission actions in terms of its powers under the Constitution. But Mr M K Alagiri, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers, eldest son of Mr Karunanidhi, is carrying on a war of words with election officials over actions taken against revenue and other officials in Madurai, regarded as Mr Alagiri's fiefdom taking charge of DMK in southern districts. (IPA)