AIADMK candidate list 2026: Is your constituency included in first chart? Kovilpatti, Royapuram, Thirumangalam...

Tamil Nadu's principal opposition party, the AIADMK, on Wednesday released its first list of 23 candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls. The Dravidian major, which leads the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), renominated the Leader of the Opposition, K. Palaniswami, from his home turf of the Edappadi constituency in the Salem district.

The AIADMK retained top leaders K. P. Munusamy and Dindigul C. Sreenivasan—both MLAs—in its first list and fielded them from their home constituencies of Veppanahalli (Krishnagiri) and Dindigul. Former minister D. Jayakumar will fight from Royapuram in North Chennai, and Rajya Sabha MP C. Ve. Shanmugam, also an ex-minister, will try his luck from Mailam in Villupuram. Former Health Minister during the AIADMK regime, C. Vijayabaskar, who is also an MLA, will contest from Viralimalai.

K. T. Rajenthra Bhalaji, a well-known leader from the Virudhunagar district who has faced allegations in scam and job-racket cases, will fight from Sivakasi. P. Benjamin, Agri S. S. Krishnamurthy (MLA), V. V. Rajan Chellappa (MLA), K. C. Karuppannan (MLA), K. C. Veeramani, M. R. Vijayabaskar, and Thamarai S. Rajendran were also part of the list. Karuppannan, Veeramani, and Vijayabaskar previously held ministerial responsibilities, while Rajendran was the government whip.

Senior leader and legislator Natham R. Viswanathan will contest from the Natham constituency in the Dindigul district. The party named the western region's star leaders, S. P. Velumani and P. Thangamani, from their home segments of Thondamuthur and Kumarapalayam respectively. Legislators Sellur K. Raju and K. P. Anbalagan will contest from Madurai West and Palacode. Cauvery delta region-based leaders R. Kamaraj and O. S. Manian will fight from Nannilam and Vedaranyam. Ex-ministers Kadambur C. Raju (MLA) and R. B. Udhayakumar (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) were named as candidates for Kovilpatti and Thirumangalam.

Although the Tamil nationalist NTK had already released its list of candidates for all 234 seats, the AIADMK is the first major party in the state to release its list of candidates, albeit in part. The AIADMK has allotted 27 seats to the BJP, 18 to the PMK, and 11 to the AMMK. Taking into account other allies in the NDA, the AIADMK is set to contest a lion's share of the total 234 seats in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu will go to the polls on 23 April.