Chennai (Tamil Nadu): All the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu will go to polls on April 19, during the first phase of the 2024 general election. In a highly bipolar fight between Dravidian Parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has a definite edge, amid both parties vying to relegate the saffron party (BJP) to a distant third in terms of the vote share, despite the social media hype.
When the UPA alliance-led by the DMK swept the state in 2019 — bagging 38 of 39 seats — it polled more than 50 per cent votes. The DMK-led alliance polled 45.7 per cent votes in the State Legislative Assembly Election in 2021.
10 DMK Incumbents In Fray
The DMK has fielded 10 incumbents and 11 new faces in the 21 seats it contests in the General Elections. Its Parliamentary Party leader and party treasurer TR Baalu is seeking re-election from the Sriperumbudur LS seat, while the party's deputy general secretaries Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and A Raja too are seeking re-election from Thoothukudi and Nilgiris.
The other incumbents include former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran (Chennai Central), Kalanidhi Veerasamy (Chennai North), Thamizhachi Thangapandian (Chennai South), former Union Minister S Jagathrakshakan (Arakkonam), DM Kathir Anand (Vellore), K Selvam (Kancheepuram), and CN Annadurai (Tiruvannamalai).
The new faces declared as candidates enjoy strong backing of the party, and ministers from MK Stalin's cabinet were assigned to such constituencies to ensure that the party candidate's prospects improve.
‘Rising Sun’ To Fight 22 Seats
The DMK has left 10 seats including the lone one in neighbouring Union Territory Puducherry to the Congress while allocating two each to Thirumavalavan-led Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (Chidambaram, Villupuram), CPI(M) (Madurai, Dindigul), and CPI (Nagapattinam, Tiruppur). Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(MDMK) and IUML will contest from Tiruchirappalli and Ramanathapuram. Kongu Makkal Desiya Katchi candidate will enter the poll fray in Namakkal in the DMK's 'rising sun' symbol.
Lacklustre AIADMK candidates
The AIADMK candidate list does not have any sitting MPs as it expelled its lone MP from Theni OP Raveendranath from the party in 2022, following his father O Panneerselvam’s ouster from the party.
Barring Dr Jayavardhan is the lone former MP in the list, most of the rest being leaders of the party’s lower rungs. The prominent faces in the list include three-time legislator R Kumaraguru who has been fielded from the UT. Former legislator Dr P Saravanan will contest from Madurai.
The party's IT Wing head Singai Ramachandran will contest from Coimbatore. The party is fighting from 33 seats while its allies will fight from seven seats - Desiya Murpokku Dravidar Kazhagam(DMDK) (5), Puthiya Tamilagam (1) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI)(1). The AIADMK's 'two leaves' will take on the 'rising sun' in 19 Lok Sabha seats.
In 2021, AIADMK which contested in 191 of 234 seats mopped up a vote share of 33.5 per cent. Back then, they were in truck with the BJP, which is now fighting the election with smaller parties and offshoots of the AIADMK.
Coimbatore Tangle
In the 2019 polls, the AIADMK had given away the Coimbatore seat to the BJP, which is now fighting on a different front, and the DMK had given it to the CPI, with the latter's alliance candidate PR Natarajan winning the seat. The AIADMK has fielded Singai G Ramachandran, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. A blue-eyed boy of Coimbatore strongman and former minister SP Velumani, who had been subjected to raids from the Central agencies. Velumani, who has scorched as rumours of him joining the BJP, will put up a strong fight. The rival candidate from the DMK is his former protégé, Ganapathy P.Rajkumar, who now has the backing of the jailed former Minister Senthil Balaji. Balaji who has been booked by the Enforcement Directorate is said to have issued adequate instructions to his party lieutenants to ensure the victory of Rajkumar. The contest here got hot after the BJP announced the candidature of its state-unit chief K Annamalai from this communally sensitive seat.
What BJP Looks to Achieve
The NDA alliance looks like it has an umbrella of parties and a psychological study adding up their alliance constituents shows that the party will be fighting for the third spot and a space for the third front. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has made multiple stops in the state this election season, is likely to wind up his Tamil Nadu campaign with his eighth visit on April 15. The party's choice of seats is based on its 2014 Lok Sabha performance when it contested in a third front comprising MDMK and DMDK besides Pattali Makkal Katchi(PMK). The combine back then bagged a vote share of nearly 19 per cent and won the Kanyakumari and Dharmapuri seats.
Now, the BJP is contesting from 20 seats in a nine-party alliance. The constituents include PMK, which is contesting from 10 seats, GK Vasan-led Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) from three seats and splinter groups of the AIADMK, including former chief minister OPS(1) and Dhinakaran(2).
Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi, Puthiya Needhi Katchi and Tamizhaga Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam fighting one seat each will seek votes on the BJP's 'lotus' symbol.
Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan will try his electoral luck from Nilgiris, while former Telangana Governor and Puducherry Lt Governor Tamilisia Soundararajan is in the fray in Chennai South. Former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan will seek votes for him from Kanniyakumari and MLA Nainar Nagendran will fight from Tirunelveli Lok Sabha seat. Nagendran was in the news after an Election Flying Squad picked up a trio carrying nearly Rs 4 crore unaccounted cash, aboard the Chennai-Tirunelveli Nellai Express on April 6. Searches were carried out at premises linked to him by the election officials, following the statements issued by the trio.
The other BJP alliance partners Pattali Makkal Katchi which polled 2.6 per cent in 2021 was allotted 'Mango' while 'Cooker' went to VK Sasikala's nephew TTV Dhinakaran-led Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), splintered from the AIADMK. The latter polled 2.4 per cent in the 2021 Assembly election. Dhinakaran will contest from Theni, the region from which he served as an MP once. Another AIADMK offshoot-led by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam is fighting from Ramanathapuram seat on the 'jackfruit' poll symbol, against four name-sake candidates.
Naam Tamilar Katchi
The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) has been mostly finishing third and going it all alone since its electoral debut in 2016. The outfit, which has pro-Tamil leanings, has polled 6.6 per cent votes in the last election to the Assembly in 2021. The party finished third in 177 constituencies and forfeited deposits in all but one of the 234 Assembly segments it contested from.
The party was stripped of its poll symbol — sugarcane farmer — after a little-known political outfit from Karnataka laid its claim for it. A legal battle mounted by it did not bear fruit for the pro-Tamil party which agreed to the Election Commission allotting the ‘mike’ symbol in all 39 Lok Sabha constituencies.
The Commission also allotted the ‘bicycle’ symbol demanded by Tamil Manila Congress (Moopanar) which polled 0.5 per cent in the last Assembly Election when it fought in the AIADMK combine and contested in the latter’s ‘Two Leaves’ symbol.
