CHENNAI: The Left Front on Tuesday announced P Suganthi of the CPM and P Lakshmanan of the CPI as its candidates for the upcoming by-elections to the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies, respectively.
The candidates were introduced at a joint press conference held at the CPM State Committee office in Chennai. CPM State Secretary P Shanmugam, CPI State Secretary M Veerapandian and CPI(ML)-Liberation State Secretary Pazha Asaithambi were present.
Suganthi, a CPM State Committee member and General Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TUNEF), entered public life through the literacy movement. She served as the State General Secretary of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) from 2011 to 2021.
Lakshmanan, who studied up to Class IX, has been working as a construction worker. He is a part-time worker of the CPI and serves as the party’s Dharapuram taluk secretary.
The Left Front had earlier announced that it would contest the by-elections as a separate bloc, stressing the need for elected representatives who would raise people’s issues in the Assembly.
I Paranthamen, DMK’s Madurantakam candidate, is the party’s Legal Wing Deputy Secretary and a former Egmore MLA. He is an advocate with BA, BL.
S Suganya, DMK’s Dharapuram candidate, is a DMK women’s wing functionary and advocate with MA, BL degrees.
K Maragatham Kumaravel, TVK’s Madurantakam candidate, is a former AIADMK MLA and MP who later joined TVK; she is listed as a postgraduate and P Sathyabama, TVK’s Dharapuram candidate, is a former AIADMK MLA and former Tiruppur Rural East district joint secretary, and is a 10th-pass candidate.
S Kanitha Sampath, AIADMK’s Madurantakam candidate, is a former Madurantakam MLA, while K Bhanumathi, the party’s Dharapuram candidate, is a former Dharapuram Panchayat Union chairperson and AIADMK women’s wing functionary.