Kamal Haasan to contest from Coimbatore South in TN polls
CHENNAI: Actor-turnedpolitician Kamal
Haasan would make his electoral debut, contesting from Coimbatore South in the April 6 Tamil Nadu assembly elections. The Makkal Needhi Maiam chief made the announcement and released the second list of 43 candidates.
CHENNAI: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Friday released its first and full list of candidates for the upcoming assembly election in Tamil Nadu. Party chief MK Stalin is contesting again from Kolathur, while his son Udhaynidhi will debut from Chepauk seat.
Thanga Tamilselvan, who quit the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) to join TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) and later the DMK, has been given the ticket from Bodinayakanur. He will face deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam.
The DMK is contesting the single-phase election in alliance with the Congress and the Left. Apart from these two, the DMK has also firmed up tie-ups with other parties including the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK). It is contesting on 173 of the 234 seats and has allotted the rest to its alliance partners.
The election will be held in Tamil Nadu on April 6.
This is the first assembly election after the demise of towering leaders J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi. The filing of nominations will start on Friday and the last day is March 19.
The big fights will be between DMK’s Senthil Balaji and transport minister M R Vijayabaskar in Karur. Former mayors of Chennai, AIADMK’s Saidai Duraisamy and DMK’s Ma Subramanian will clash in Saidapet. Environment activist and a pro-jallikattu crusader Karthikeya Senapathy, who joined the DMK in 2020 will go head on with AIADMK heavyweight and minister for municipal administration SP Velumani in his stronghold of Thondamuthur constituency in Coimbatore.
The DMK has retained its party veterans, sitting MLAs and prominent faces across the assembly seats such as party general secretary Durai Murugan, Thangam Thennarsu, Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, P K Sekhar Babu, former state IT minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna.
The AIADMK has retained most of its incumbents apart from fielding two Lok Sabha MPs in party’s list of 177 candidates. However, to challenge chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami in Edappadi constituency, DMK has fielded Sampath Kumar as a candidate.