The DMK, which is contesting in 21 out of the 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu in alliance with the Congress and the Left, released its list of candidates on Wednesday. The list comprises three women and several new faces from crucial constituencies.
Party seniors T.R. Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran, Kanimozhi, A. Raja, S. Jagathrakshagan and Thamilachi Thangapandian have been renominated. While Baalu and Raja will enter the fray from Sriperumbudur and Nilgiris respectively, Kanimozhi has been renominated from Thoothukudi and Thamilachi Thangapandian will contest in Chennai South.
At least 50 per cent of candidates in the list are new faces and sitting MPs S.R. Parthiban, S.S. Palanimanickam, M.D.R.D. Senthil Kumar have been denied a ticket this time.
DMK will be contesting from Coimbatore after a decade. The seat that was held by the CPI(M) earlier has been allotted to Ganapathy P. Rajkumar, a new face in the party. Rajkumar, who was the former mayor of Coimbatore and earlier with the AIADMK, joined the party in December 2022.
DMK Trichy strongman’s son K.N. Arun Nehru will contest from Perambalur, the constituency which is held by IJK leader and businessman Parivendhar. Meanwhile, former minister and Villupuram strongman K. Ponmudi’s son and M.P. Gowtham Sigamani did not find place in the list. A sitting MP from Kallakurichi Sigamani was recently raided by the ED along with his father.
The high profile Salem constituency has been allotted to T.M. Selvaganapathy. Formerly with the AIADMK, Selvaganapathy was once the blue-eyed boy of Jayalalithaa during her 1991-1996 regime. He defected to the DMK in 2008. He was the Rajya Sabha MP of the DMK, but was disqualified after he was convicted in a corruption case. The Madras High Court had set aside his conviction last year, thus paving way for him to return to electoral politics.
Thanga ThamizhSelvan who was formerly with the AIADMK and T.T.V. Dhinakaran’s AMMK will contest from Theni. He contested from Bodi against O. Panneerselvam in the 2021 assembly elections.
The new faces include C.N. Annadurai from Thiruvannamalai, M.S. Dharanivendhan from Arani, Malaiyarasan from Kallakurichi, K.E. Prakash from Erode, K. Eswarasamy from Pollachi, S. Murasoli from Thanjavur and Rani Srikumar from Tenkasi (SC), D.M. Kathir Anand from Vellore, K. Selvam from Kancheepuram (SC).
“Among the candidates, there are 11 new faces, two doctorates, six advocates, three women, 19 graduates and 12 postgraduates,” DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin told the media.
However, the list doesn’t comprise any candidate from the minority community. Though Ramanathapuram has been allotted to alliance party IUML and its candidate will contest in DMK symbol, the party has not fielded any Muslim or Christian candidate in this election.
