CHENNAI: VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan will contest from Chidambaram while party general secretary Ravikumar will contest from Villupuram. Interestingly, VCK has announced that Thirumavalavan will contest on an independent symbol while Ravikumar will contest on the DMK’s rising sun symbol.
Thirumavalavan will be taking on the AIADMK, which is yet to announce the candidate for the reserved constituency of Chidambaram while T. Ravikumar, a writer and former MLA, will lock horns with the PMK in Villupuram - also a reserved constituency. The VCK, which is a constituent of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance in the State has been allotted two seats in the seat-sharing pact.
Speaking to reporters here on Sunday,Thirumavalavan, who was elected to parliament for the first time in 2009 from Chidambaram constituency on an independent symbol, said he would be contesting on an independent symbol this time too, whereas Villupuram seat would be contested on the DMK’s rising sun symbol. “This is an amicable decision taken with an aim to win both the constituencies,” he said. In 2014, he lost to AIADMK. The Dalit leader had unsuccessfully contested from Chidambaram in 1999.
VCK would be contesting six Lok Sabha constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and three in Kerala independently. In Andhra Pradesh, NK Jacob Vidyasagar will be contesting from Guntur, PTM Sivaprasad - Chittoor, George Bankari - Visakhapatnam, Dr Murugesan Prabhu - Tirupati, Bondalapalli Chandrasekar - Rajampet, and Ramaji Immanuel from Kadapa. In Kerala, M Selvaraj from Idukki, Jeevan K Vijayan from Kottayam and lawyer K R Meena would be contesting from Kollam.
Alleging that the Election Commission was delaying the allotment of an independent symbol for a month without citing any reason, Thirumavalavan said the symbols sought by the party were allotted to others. “Earlier we asked for a ring, then a diamond, then a jackfruit, but all of them were allotted to others. Now they have asked another list of symbols. Time to begin campaigns is nearing,” he said.
The writer-poet Ravikumar was elected to the Kattumannarkoil constituency in 2006. He unsuccessfully contested from the Vanur constituency in Villupuram district in the 2016 Assembly Elections, losing to the AIADMK’s M Chakrapani.
