Comments
The 92-year-old DMK president M Karunanidhi will attempt to become the Tamil Nadu chief minister for the sixth time when he files his nomination to be re-elected from his native Thiruvarur.
The party released the list of 176 candidates who will contest in the election to the State Assembly on May 16.
Karunanidhi is contesting from this constituency for the second time after 2011 when he had to sit in the opposition benches.
The DMK leader will kick of a statewide campaign from April 23 with a public meeting at Saidapet. He will file his nomination papers on April 25 at Thiruvarur where he will also address a public meeting.
The nonagenarian, 12-time member of the legislature will face AIADMK candidate, ANR Panneerselvam who is hopes to enter the Assembly for the first time.
The DMK Treasurer and former Deputy Chief Minister, MK Stalin will be contesting to retain his seat from Kolathur constitutency, where he faces JCD Prabhakar who is sitting MLA from Villivakkam constitutency.
Some of the prominent names among his peers who are not on the list are Arcot Veeraswamy and `Perasiriyar’ K Anbazhagan.
Some of the other prominent names in the DMK list include Durai Murugan, contesting from Katpadi; K Ponmudy, from Thirukovilur; KN Nehru, from Tiruchi (West); MRK Panneerselvam from Kurinjipadi; A V Velu from Thiruvannamalai; M Subramanian, former mayor of Chennai from Saidapet; KKSSR Ramachandran from Kurinjipadi; and Poongothai Aladi Aruna from Alangulam.
The DMK will try to erase the near ignominious defeat it suffered at the hands of its arch rival AIADMK in 2011 when it was swept from power by an anti incumbency wave churned by allegations of corruption. The DMK which contested 124 seats in 2011 managed to win in just 23 and was relegated to third place in the Assembly losing even its position, a role which alternates between the two Dravidian parties.
The DMK is contesting a total of 176 seats and has allied with the Congress to which it has allotted 41 seats. It has also brought on board a number of regional parties including the Puthiya Thamizhagam to which it has allotted four reserved constituencies. (EOM)
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.