Chennai, May 23 (IANS): The DMK on Thursday led in in 10 Assembly constituencies and the ruling AIADMK in 8 as per the initial trends available for the by-elections held for 22 seats in Tamil Nadu, according to the Election Commission.

More than the Lok Sabha elections, the focus in the state was on the by-elections as it would determine whether the AIADMK government led by Chief Minister K. Palaniswami would remain in power.

The fight here is between the AIADMK and DMK. Both the parties contested all the 22 seats while they shared the Lok Sabha seats with their allies.

In the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, the ruling AIADMK has 114 members (including Speaker), the DMK 88, the Congress 8 while IUML and Independents have one member each.

To attain a simple majority, the AIADMK has to win just four seats in the by-elections. In order to be safe against switching of camps by some of the lawmakers, the AIADMK has to win eight or nine seats.

The DMK (88 legislators), on the other hand, has to win all the 22 seats to take its tally along with its allies -- Congress (eight) and IUML (one) -- to 119, which is just one number over the simple majority.

Meanwhile, three AIADMK legislators were issued show cause notices by Speaker P. Dhanapal as the ruling party felt that they were moving towards the T.T.V. Dhinakaran-led Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK).

However, the Supreme Court has stayed the disqualification proceedings against these three lawmakers.