Tamil Nadu: Blow for Karunanidhi family's business interests?

Tamil Nadu: Blow for Karunanidhi family's business interests?

Thursday’s state election results are likely to make the fortunes for some businesses and mar for some others. The biggest and most prominent loser of the day was from the family of DMK chief M Karunanidhi. On the day of the results, the Sun TV stock lost Rs 2,229 crore in market value. Its market capitalisation fell from Rs 16,845 crore at its close on Thursday to Rs 14,616 crore at the end of the day. By virtue of his 75 per cent holding, DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s grandnephew Kalanithi Maran would take three-fourths of that hit.

This notional loss could be an indicator of the bad news in store for the family’s business interests that extend beyond media. While Maran was among the first in the family to get into organised business through his venture into broadcast media in the early 1990s, there were others who have followed in his footsteps. After a brief break-up in relations with the Marans, Karunanidhi’s immediate family members floated Kalaignar TV in 2007. At the time Karunanidhi’s wife Dayalu Ammal owned 60 per cent, while his daughter Kanimozhi owned 20 per cent. Karunanidhi’s grandsons, from his sons Stalin and Azhagiri have also built interests in a range of businesses from real estate to movies to granite mining.

The management of Sun TV has often maintained that its business is independent of the government in power, but the market seems to be understanding it differently. A second term of the AIADMK could prove to be tougher for the family as it does not have the cushion of a friendly regime at the Centre. Read more.

Assembly Elections 2016 India

The turnout in 18 Assembly seats in West Bengal and 65 seats in Assam for theAssembly Elections 2016 was a historic high during the first phase.

There was so much rush that the Election Commission had to extend voting by an hour on Monday, senior sources in the Election commission said. It was not clear where.

The voter turnout was 81 per cent in West Bengal and 80 per cent in Assam. The elections ended peacefully with no reports of major violence or injury, said Sandeep Saxena, deputy election commissioner. A total of 16 complaints related to rigging, denial of vote and late start of polling were received.

Polling in the two states was held amid tight security, including large-scale presence of central paramilitary forces and aerial surveillance by helicopter-borne personnel in West Bengal.

The remaining 61 seats in middle and lower Assam Elections 2016 will vote in the second and final phase of polling on April 11. Polling will be held in another 31 seats in West Bengal on April 11.

Nearly all the voting constituencies in West Bengal were in Naxalite-affected regions. In 13 seats of the tribal Jangalmahal area, polling concluded at 4 pm due to security considerations. In the remaining five seats of Purulia, Manbazar, Kashipur, Para and Raghunathpur polling went on till 6 pm.

In Assam, an estimated 70 per cent of little over 9.5 million voters cast their ballots. There were no reports of violence from any of the 65 of the 126 constituencies where polling was held in the first phase. The fate of several prominent Congress candidates, including Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi from Titabor and Speaker of the outgoing Assembly Pranab Gogoi from Sibsagar has been sealed in electronic voting machines. Among others whose constituencies went to poll on Monday included BJP's chief ministerial candidate Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal from Majuli and the party's Lok Sabha member from Jorhat Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, who is contesting against Gogoi in Titabor.

West Bengal Elections 2016 ruling Trinamool Congress expressed satisfaction over the huge turnout and said it was indicative of the 'silent revolution' that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had ushered in the state through development.

"There were some issues with EVMs in some booths which were immediately addressed for smooth functioning," Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dibyendu Sarkar said.

Most analysts attributed the high turnout to the dying Left-wing insurgency in West Bengal.