Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK joint coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami has emerged victorious once again in his home constituency of Edappadi. In an official statement released by AIADMK on social media, Palaniswami secured 92,868 votes more than his rival, DMK’s T Sampath Kumar. This is the seventh time Palaniswami has contested from his home constituency and the first occasion he has contested as the CM. 

எடப்பாடி தொகுதியில் மாண்புமிகு முதல்வர் திரு. எடப்பாடி கே. பழனிச்சாமி அவர்கள் 92,868 வாக்குகள் வித்தியாசத்தில் வெற்றி.

— AIADMK (@AIADMKOfficial) May 2, 2021

A four-time MLA from Edappadi, Palaniswami, belonging to the Gounder community, became triumphant in the constituency in 1989, 1991, 2011 and 2016. However, he lost on two occasions in the 1996 and 2006 elections to the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), who this time have allied with the AIADMK in the 2021 Assembly elections. Despite no big political background, Palaniswami rose to the top ranks of the AIADMK and won the confidence of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. He served as the Minister for Highways, Public Works and Minor Ports in Jayalalithaa's cabinet after which he was sworn-in as the CM of Tamil Nadu in February 2017 after considerable political turbulence in the state. 

The AIADMK has in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections failed to secure a majority as per the latest poll results, which have clearly since today afternoon strongly indicated the DMK led by MK Stalin is set to form the new government in the state after a decade. With the results of various constituencies across Tamil Nadu yet to be announced, the polls show the AIADMK not being able to emerge victorious, with DMK said to have secured victories in more than a 100 constituencies.