Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief MK Stalin on Sunday, 28 February, filed an application to contest from the Kolathur constituency for the upcoming Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. This will be the third time that Stalin is contesting from the constituency and with his previous two winning streaks, the DMK leader is hoping for a hattrick. Prior to the 2011 Assembly elections, Stalin used to contest from the Thousand Lights QAssembly constituency. Tamil Nadu goes to polls on 6 April in a single phase, and the results will be announced on 2 May.
Just days ago, Stalin’s son and DMK’s youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin had submitted his application to contest from Chepauk. The seat, notably, is considered to be DMK’s home forte and was represented by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi thrice. TNM reported on 27 February that the AIADMK-BJP alliance is likely to field actor Khushboo Sundar from the Chepauk Assembly constituency. The possible face-off between the two actor turned politicians — Udhayandhi and Khushboo — has already gotten all the attention as one among the high-profile face-offs in the state’s upcoming elections.
The Kolathur constituency was carved out of the former Purasawalkam and Villivakkam Assembly segments after the Delimitation of Constituencies in 2008. Kolathur consists of Kolathur, Peravallur, Senthil Nagar, Srinivasa Nagar, Ayanavaram, Periyar Nagar, Poombugar Nagar, Jawagar Nagar, and Sembiyam neighbourhoods.
In 2011, Stalin stood opposite AIADMK’s Saidai Sa Duraisamy and won by a close margin. In 2016, he faced JCD Prabhakar from the AIADMK and won by a huge margin. Of the 234 Assembly Constituencies in the state, Chennai has a total of 20.
On Saturday, AIADMK inaugurated its alliance talks by announcing seat-sharing with Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK). It was announced that PMK will contest 23 seats in the AIADMK-led alliance for Tamil Nadu’s upcoming Assembly polls, while it is being reported that negotiations are on with the national party BJP.
According to reports, alliance talks between the opposition parties DMK and Congress are underway and the parties are yet to reach a consensus. DMK’s seat-sharing talks are headed by General Secretary Duraimurugan, Treasurer TR Baalu and MP Kanimozhi.
(This was first published on The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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