Chennai: For the April 19 elections to the Lok Sabha from Tamil Nadu, 68 registered or recognised political parties are in the fray, fielding 241 candidates between them, with some of the parties having unfamiliar names like the Viro Ke Vir Indian Party that has six candidates contesting the polls.
The two parties that have candidates contesting from all the 39 constituencies in the State are the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), led by Seeman, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), founded by the late Kanshi Ram and now headed by Mayawati and based in Delhi.
Of the total 950 candidates left in the electoral race after scrutiny and withdrawal of nominations, 609 are independents and the rest are affiliated to parties, some of whom go by strange nomenclatures like ‘Viduthalai Kalam Katchi’, Tipu Sultan Party, Punnagai Desam Party, Jebamani Janata, Anti-Corruption Dynamic Party, Veerth Thiyagi Viswanathadoss Thozhilalar Katchi, Vidiyalai Thedum Indiar Party and Ahimsa Socialist Party.
Then there are some parties with names that most people in the State might not understand at all, leave alone vote for them. Some of those parties are Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Hardam Manavtawadi Rashtriya Dal, Ganasangam Party of India and Thakkam Katchi.
Popular parties with their names, and also symbols, familiar to the common people are DMK contesting in 22 seats, AIADMK 34 seats, Congress 9 seats, BJP 23 seats and PMK 10 seats. Smaller parties in the State that have fielded candidates as allies of one of the three major coalitions led by the DMK, AIADMK and BJP are TMC 3 seats, VCK 2 seats and DMDK five.
Both the national communist parties the CPI and CPM have fielded two candidates each contesting as part of the DMK-led alliance, while another party called SUCI (Communist) is also fighting the electoral battle from two constituencies.
While Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) of T T V Dinakaran, contesting in two seats as a BJP ally, is a party bearing the name of a past leader, there are several not so popular parties named after popular leaders.
They are: Ambedkarite Party of India (2 seats), Anna Makkal Katchi (1 seat), Anna MGR Dravidian Makkal Katchi (5 seats), Anna Puratchi Thalaivar Amma Dravida Munnnetra Kazhagam (2 seats) and Mahatma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (2 seats).
