Chennai: Ahead of the rival coalitions, the DMK-led front completed the seat allocation process on Monday with TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai visiting the DMK headquarters and signing an agreement with DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin on a day the electoral scene took a curious turn with BJP leader Tamilisai Soundarajan resigning her posts as Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, possibly to contest from one of the constituencies in the State.
While the Congress agreed to keep seven of the constituencies that it contested in 2019, giving up Arani, Trichy and Theni (where it lost last time) and taking Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai and Tirunelveli in lieu of them, speculation was rife on the potential candidates for the new constituencies and possible changes for the other constituencies though the party has not yet started even the candidates selection process.
The Congress called for applications from aspirants for the 10 Lok Sabha seats on Monday, saying they would have to pay a donation of Rs 30,000 for general constituencies, while women and those applying for reserved constituencies would have to pay Rs 15,000. The party also invited applications from aspirants for the Vilavancode Assembly constituency, which fell vacant following the resignation of the sitting MLA Vijayadharani after her defection to the BJP and is also going to polls on April 19.
The political grapevine has it that the Congress might field its former TNCC president K S Alagiri from Cuddalore, Praveen Chakravarty from Mayiladuthurai and Peter Alphonse from Tirunelveli. Also there was a speculation that Sasikanth Senthil, who headed the Congress war room in Karnataka, might be fielded from Thiruvallur constituency.
The seven constituencies that the Congress is contesting from again are Thiruvallur (Reserved), Sivagangai, Krishagiri, Karur, Virudhunagar, Kanyakumari and Puducherry. V Vaithilingam, former Chief Minister of Puducherry, is expected to be renominated by the Congress.
Trichy was handed over the MDMK, which immediately nominated Durai Vaiko, principal secretary of the party, as candidate. Also the Kongunadu Makkal Katchi that was allotted the same Namakkal constituency that it won in 2019 named Sooryamoorthy as the candidate.
The names of the DMK candidates would be announced on Wednesday, Stalin said. Since the party had already interviewed aspirants and had shortlisted the candidates, not many changes from the list of 2019 could be expected, party insiders said. Stalin will be starting his campaign from Trichy on March 22 and then visit Tiruvarur the next day.
The AIADMK, which has already finalized its alliance with the Puthiya Tamizhagam Katchi and the SDPI, was in the process of clinching a deal with the DMDK on Monday after several rounds of negotiations. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami was expected to launch a whirlwind campaign on March 24 and visit several constituencies till March 31.
The BJP list that will be released by the party high command in New Delhi is expected in a day or two and Tamilisai Soundarajan’s name will figure in it, party sources said. Of the 25 seats that the BJP proposes to contest from in Tamil Nadu, names of many more prominent personalities of the party are expected.
The party’s alliance with the PMK was confirmed on Monday. The PMK that decided to go with the BJP at a meeting said that the number of seats would be announced later.
