Intense campaign in T.N. draws to a close

After a month-long intense canvassing by multiple political players for 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry, the campaign came to a close on Wednesday evening.

On Friday (April 19), nearly 6.23 crore electors in Tamil Nadu will cast their votes to choose 39 Members of Parliament out of 950 candidates.

Around 10.24 lakh voters in Puducherry will choose their nominee for the lone seat from 26 contestants. Among the known faces in the fray are: Tamilisai Soundararajan (South Chennai) and Pon Radhakrishnan (Kanniyakumari), both belonging to the BJP; Karti Chidambaram (Sivaganga)and S. Jothimani (Karur) of the Congress; Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (Thoothukudi) and Dayanidhi Maran (Central Chennai) of the DMK; Singai G. Ramachandran (Coimbatore) and J. Jayavardhan

(South Chennai) of the AIADMK; former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam (Ramanathapuram) and the AMMK’s chief T.T.V. Dhinakaran (Theni).

Arch rivals

Traditional rivals — the DMK and the AIADMK — slogged it out in the fray, heading their own fronts and the burden of their campaign was essentially borne by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for the former and his predecessor Edappadi K. Palaniswami for the latter.

In respect of the ruling party, Minister for Sports and Youth Development Udhayanidhi Stalin, who hogged the headlines in September last, over his observations on Sanatana Dharma, conducted extensive roadshows. Premalatha Vijayakant, general secretary of the AIADMK’s ally, the DMDK, did as much as she could in canvassing for votes.