"He (M. Karunanidhi) will be the chief minister 100 percent. Where is the doubt?" Karunanidhi''s son M.K. Stalin told reporters here.

The ebullient 82-year-old DMK patriarch won from the Chepauk constituency for the third time and has become a legislator for the 11th time.

Karunanidhi surprisingly sought to put an end to the longstanding rivalry between the two Dravidian giants in the state by asking AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha to cooperate with his government "to usher in a new political culture" in Tamil Nadu.

"Let us start a new chapter to end this acrimony and bitterness between the two parties (DMK and AIADMK)," Karunanidhi said. "This will help in shrugging off the bitter rivalry of the past and usher in a new political culture."

The DMK and its allies, including the Congress, the PMK, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Communist Party of India (CPI), have won 163 of the 226 seats for which results had been declared. Tamil Nadu has a 234-member house.

The break-up was DMK: 96, INC: 34, PMK: 18, CPM: nine and CPI: six seats.

AIADMK suffered a terrible defeat, winning just 69 seats, despite aligning at the eleventh hour with two former partners of the DMK - the MDMK and the Dalit Panthers of India.

The AIADMK won 60, the MDMK six, entering the assembly for the first time, and the Dalit Panthers won two seats.

AIADMK sources acknowledged that the caste vote from the Thevars, which always went to the AIADMK, had this time been fractured.

Frenzied celebrations broke out here outside DMK chief Karunanidhi''s residence as the veteran politician prepared to take the reins of power for the fifth time.

A despondent Jayalalitha, a movie star turned politician, put in her papers and was asked to continue in office until a new government was formed.

Returning to her Poes Garden House Thursday from a retreat in the city outskirts, she sent in her resignation letter to Governor S.S. Barnala through a minister in her cabinet, D. Jayakumar.

"I have done my best for the people of Tamil Nadu. I respect their verdict and demit office. I will continue to serve the people of Tamil Nadu," said a statement from her.

As results poured in, the DMK, having won just 96 seats, quickly made it clear that it was not looking at any coalition government and that it wanted to rule the sprawling state on its own.

"It is going to be a DMK government," DMK leader and central IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran told reporters. Karunanidhi said he had already won the support of his allies for a DMK government.

"It is a fantastic victory," Maran said. "The communist leaders have spoken to us extending support for a DMK government. The PMK is also backing us. Congress leaders will also be meeting us."

However, state Congress president M. Krishnaswamy refused to say that the Congress would give outside support to the DMK.

Some Congress leaders had earlier hinted at a coalition government in Tamil Nadu for the first time, but the idea found no support.

Karunanidhi declared at the party headquarters: "A government will be formed in Tamil Nadu after talks with all the alliance partners."

He avoided questions about his pre-election promise to provide free colour television sets to the poor but said: "The promises made in the DMK manifesto will be kept."

As early trends indicated a sweep for the DMK and its allies, Karunanidhi emerged from his house with his trademark dark glasses and a yellow ''angavastram'' (stole) draped around his neck, flanked by senior party leaders and central ministers A. Raja and T.R. Balu to join the jubilant supporters.

DMK activists cheered and clapped when they saw him. Many distributed sweets, danced and burst crackers.

The DMK, however, suffered an unexpected setback in Chennai, losing eight out of the 14 seats to AIADMK.

Among the winners were AIADMK ministers D. Jayakumar, S.V. Sekhar, Shekhar Babu and Jayalalitha''s friend Bader Sayeed.

Karunanidhi''s son and political heir Stalin won from the Thousand Lights seat.

The DMK alliance performed better than expected even in rural areas, normally considered an AIADMK fortress. It made inroads into traditional AIADMK pockets and won from areas where large numbers of Christians and Muslims live.

Among the prominent DMK losers was actor D. Napolean.

Actor Vijaykanth, whose newly formed DMDK created a sensation in its maiden electoral participation, won from Viruthachalam, overcoming the PMK by over 13,700 votes.

N. Nanmaran of the CPI-M won from Madurai East, Congressman C. Gnanasekharan from Vellore and former speaker of the Tamil Nadu assembly P.T.R. Palanivelrajan of DMK won from Madurai Central constituency.

PWD minister and former chief minister O. Panneerselvam (AIADMK) won the Periyakulam seat by 15,057 votes. The AIADMK''s S.V. Shanmugham won Madurai west constituency by 3,467 votes.

In tsunami-hit Nagapattinam, where the government claimed it had done excellent relief work, AIADMK legislator K.A. Jayapal suffered defeat at the hands of the CPI-M''s V. Marimuthu.

CITU state general secretary and CPM candidate A. Soundararajan lost the election with a slender margin of 14 votes against the AIADMK alliance partner INTUC candidate R. Chinnasmy in Singanallur constituency.

Union Minister and senior Congress party leader S.R. Balasubramanian was defeated by MDMK treasurer M. Kannappan by a margin of 9,874 votes in Thondamuthur constituency even as CPM''s Mahendran won in Perambur.

Tamil superstar Rajnikanth Thursday greeted Karunanidhi and in a handwritten message to the DMK chief said, "The victory entirely belonged to you. It is a victory for your rich political experience and political acumen."