AIADMK to contest 227 seats, Jayalalithaa to seek re-election from RK Nagar

Chennai

Releasing the list of candidates after completing the interviewing process, Ms Jayalalithaa said the remaining seven seats were allotted to minor partners in the alliance, who would be contesting under the AIADMK's 'Two Leaves' symbol.

The list included a record 31 women candidates.

In the 2011 assembly polls, the AIADMK had contested in 165 constituencies and had allocated 69 seats to its allies, including the Left parties and DMDK.

The release of candidates list by Ms Jayalalithaa also shut the doors on former Union Minister and TMC leader G K Vasan who was hoping for a possible alliance with the AIADMK for the ensuing polls.

Ms Jayalalithaa, who would be seeking re-election from the R K Nagar constituency in Chennai city, from where she was elected by a record margin of more than 1.5 lakh votes in June last year after her acquittal in the disproportionate assets case, has retained 16 of her Cabinet colleagues in the list of candidates.

They included O Panneerselvam (Bodinayakanur), Natham R Viswanathan (Athur), R Vaithilingam (Orathanadu), 'Edapady' N Palanisamy (Edapadi), P Thangamani (Kumarapalayam), Thoppu N Venkatachalam (Perundurai), Dr C Vijayabhasakar (Viralimalai), Ms B Valarmathi (Thousand Lights), Ms S Gokula Indira (Annanagar), K C Veeramani (Jolarpettai), S P Velumani (Thondamuthur), M C Sampath (Cuddalore), R Kamaraj (Nannilam), Chellur K Raju (Madurai West), R B Udhayakumar (Tirumangalam), K T Rajendra Balaji (Sivakasi).

Also several former Ministers including Panruti S Ramachandran, senior leader C Ponnaiyan, K A Sengottaiayan, N Senthil Balaji, C Ve Shanmugham,  figure in the list.

The AIADMK supremo has balanced the list with several new faces, including Retired DGP R Nataraj who was chosen to contest from Mylapore constituency  in Chennai city, while leaving out many sitting MLAs and by giving seats to old-timers and loyalists.

The prominent names missing from the list were former Ministers B V Ramana and T K M Chinayya, who were sacked from the Cabinet and party posts  recently following allegations against them.

A majority of the candidates were well qualified and the list has a mix of those who had studied UG, PG, Engineering, medicine, Law and IT professionals.

Former DMK MLA Parithi Ilamvazhuthi, former DMDK MLAs Panruti S Ramachandran and Mafoi K Pandiarajan and former PMK MLA M Kalaiarasu, who had defected to the AIADMK, have also been given ticket.

While Ma Foi Pandiarajan, who switched sides from DMDK to AIADMK, has been fielded from Avadi on the outskirts of Chennai, another former MLA Kalaiarasu, who switched to AIADMK from PMK, recently is the candidate from Anaikattu.

Though nine of the DMDK MLAs switched sides to AIADMK only Pandiarajan and Ramachandran were given tickets.

She has also fielded P T Elangovan, former PMK MP, who fell out in favour of party high command, in the Dharmapuri constituency.

The six alliance partners who have been allocated seats were C K Tamilarasan of Republican Party of India (Maduranthakam), R Sarathkumar of AISMK (Tiruchendur), U Thaniyarasu of Tamil Nadu Kongu Ilaignar Peravai (Kangeyam), M Tamimun Ansari of Manithaneya Jananayaka Katchi (Nagapattinam and Ottanchathram), S Sheik Dawood of Tamil Maanila Muslim League (Kadayanallur) and actor S Karunas of Mukkulathor Pulipadai (Thiruvadanai).

Ms Jayalalithaa also announced that her party would go it alone in the Union Territory of Puducherry and announced candidates for all the 30 seats, fielding ex Minister P Kannan, who joined the party recently, from Raj Bhavan, MLA A Anbazhagan from Uppalam.  

She said the party would contest seven seats in Kerala and released the candidates list.