With exit polls claiming that the opposition DMK will return to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years, all eyes are on the counting of votes for the 234 seats in the state Assembly election on Sunday.
Here, we provide a glance at 10 key constituencies to watch out for:
Edappadi: The constituency is synonymous with the incumbent chief minister, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, in more ways than one. Since 1989, Edappadi Palaniswami has contested from Edappadi a total of seven times (including the 2021 polls). He has lost only twice from here: in 1996 and 2006. Barring for a short detour of Lok Sabha polls from 1998 to 2004, when he won only one in three polls from Tiruchengodu, Palaniswami has been associated most with this Assembly constituency.
In the 2016 election, Palaniswami secured 43.74 per cent of the vote to win decisively, while in 2011, he won over 56 per cent of the total votes. This time, Palaniswami is facing T.M. Sambathkumar of the DMK and N Pookadai Sekar (AMMK) as his main rivals.
Bodinayakanur: Bodinayakanur is the ‘adopted’ constituency of Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam. Panneerselvam had won from Bodinayakanur in 2011 and 2016. In 2011, he defeated his DMK rival, S Lakshmanan, by around 30,000 votes, while in 2016, he defeated Lakshmanan by over 15,000 votes. This time, Panneerselvam is facing Thanga Tamilselvan of the DMK.
Kolathur: This is the first election DMK chief M.K. Stalin is facing in the absence of his father and DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi, who died in 2018. In 2011, Stalin managed to barely win Kolathur, defeating his AIADMK rival by just 2,734 votes. Stalin won by a larger margin of over 36,000 votes in the 2016 election from Kolathur. In 2021, Stalin is facing Aadi Rajaram of AIADMK and J. Arumugham of AMMK.
Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni: The 2021 election marks the poll plunge of the third generation of the M. Karunanidhi clan, Udhayanidhi Stalin. Udhayanidhi, who is the son of Stalin, has been the DMK's youth wing chief. J. Anbazhagan of DMK won from Chepauk in 2011 and 2016. In 2011, he won by 9,203 votes, while in 2016, his victory margin was little less than 14,000 votes.
Udhayanidhi Stalin is facing A.V.A. Kassali of the PMK, a member of the NDA alliance.
Kovilpatti: Kovilpatti witnessed the first 'full' election campaign of AMMK chief T.T.V. Dhinakaran. While Dhinakaran had won the bypoll to the R.K. Nagar seat in 2017, this is his first Assembly election leading the AMMK as a whole. Dhinakaran is contesting against AIADMK minister Kadambur Raju. Raju won Kovilpatti by a margin of over 26,000 votes in the 2011 election. In the 2016 election, Raju won by a mere 428 votes against his DMK rival. A third 'major' candidate in the fray in Kovilpatti is K. Srinavasan, a CPI(M) member, who is contesting on behalf of the DMK alliance.
Coimbatore (South): Movie star-turned-politician Kamal Haasan made his poll debut from Coimbatore (South). Both the AIADMK and DMK have given the Coimbatore (South) seat to their allies: Congress (Mayura Jayakumar) and BJP (Vanathi Srinivasan). An interesting challenger is R. 'Challenger' Doraiswamy of the AMMK. Doraiswamy had won the seat in 2011 on a AIADMK ticket, winning by over 27,000 votes. In 2016, the AIADMK nominated Arjun K, who won the seat by over 17,000 votes.
Karur: Karur is being billed as the battle of the transport ministers as both main candidates had held the transport portfolio. V. Senthil Balaji had won from Karur on an AIADMK ticket in 2011 by a margin of over 40,000 votes. In 2016, the AIADMK nominated M.R. Vijayabhaskar, the current transport minister, who won the seat by a margin of around 800 votes. Balaji left the AIADMK to briefly join the AMMK before moving to the DMK, which has nominated him as its candidate this time.
Thousand Lights: Once represented by M.K. Stalin, this constituency in Chennai has been prominent as Khushbu Sundar of the BJP is contesting from there. The DMK has nominated Dr N. Ezhilan as its candidate. B Valarmathi of the AIADMK had won from Thousand Lights in 2011 by a margin of 7,592 votes, but she lost in 2016 by around 8,000 votes to a DMK candidate.
Vriddhachalam:Premalatha Vijayakanth, the wife of DMDK chief Vijayakanth, is contesting from Vriddhachalam. The DMDK won Vriddhachalam in 2011, with its candidate winning by around 13,000 votes. The AIADMK won the seat in 2016. The AIADMK and DMK have given Vriddhachalam to their allies: PMK (R. Parthasarathy) and Congress (R. Radhakrishnan).
Viralimalai: DR C. Vijayabhaskar has been in the news for most of the past year given his work as health minister of Tamil Nadu overseeing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vijayabhaskar won from Viralimalai by nearly 40,000 votes in 2011 and by around 7,500 votes in 2016. In this election, the DMK has nominated M. Palaniappan, whom Vijayabhaskar had narrowly defeated in 2016.