AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa wins Tamil Nadu assembly election 2016

Chennai: Despite the ' corruption ' blot, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa on Thursday won re-elected in the Tamil Nadu Assembly Election 2016. It is for the first time since 1984 that an dignitary chief minister has won re-election in the southern state. Here are some reasons: - While corruption was one of the hotly-debated topics in Tamil Nadu in the run-up to polls, the results indicate the electorate of Tamil Nadu had accepted the High Court verdict acquitting Jayalalithaa in a multi-crore disproportionate assets case. She was earlier convicted by a special court in Bengaluru on charges of collecting assets undulated to her income while she was the Tamil Nadu chief minister during 1991-1996. - The traction of Jayalalithaa as she is fondly called, managed to tide over the perception of misgovernance in the state. Amid claims that governance had taken a back seat in Tamil Nadu and that the state ' s economy was marred by slow growth and development, it appears that the voter has ignored those theories safely remembering the social schemes and freebies doled out by the outgoing government. - AIADMK ' s liberal stance on introducing prohibition in the state seems to have played in its favour. While the incumbent party had promised introduction of prohibition in a phased manner and was liberal in its approach on the issue, almost all other parties had promised the introcuction of the policy in one go. - Lack of a credible and solid face in the opposition is also believed to have played a part in Jayalalithaa ' s successive victory. - Another factor that likely played in Jayalalitha ' s favour was the number of women who cast their vote in the state elections – men were outnumbered by women. - At least 41 percent vote share for AIADMK compared to 31 percent for DMK shows there was genuine support for the incumbent chief minister. She probably had done many things right, despite political experts and pollsters saying the opposite.