AIADMK releases first List of 23 candidates for Assembly Polls, EPS to contest from Edappadi

Tamil Nadu’s main opposition party AIADMK, leading the NDA in the state, on Wednesday released its first list of 23 candidates for the April 23 Assembly polls and renominated its chief K Palaniswami from his home turf of Edappadi constituency in Salem district.

The party, which is leading the NDA in the state, retained several senior leaders in its initial list, including KP Munusamy, Dindigul C Sreenivasan and Natham R Viswanathan.

It also fielded key western region leaders such as SP Velumani and P Thangamani from Thondamuthur and Kumarapalayam, respectively.

Other candidates named in the list include D Jayakumar (Royapuram), CV Shanmugam (Mailam), Sellur K Raju (Madurai West), KP Anbazhagan (Palacode), R Kamaraj (Nannilam), OS Manian (Vedaranyam), C Vijayabaskar (Viralimalai), Kadambur C Raju (Kovilpatti), RB Udhayakumar (Thirumangalam), KT Rajendra Balaji (Sivakasi), S Benjamin (Maduravoyal), SS Krishnamurthy (Kalasapakkam), VV Rajan Chellappa (Thiruparankundram), KC Karuppannan (Bhavani), KC Veeramani (Jolarpet), MR Vijayabaskar (Karur) and Thamarai Rajendran (Ariyalur).

The announcement came two days after the AIADMK-led NDA finalised its seat-sharing pact for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls. Under the arrangement, AIADMK will contest 178 seats, the BJP 27, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) faction led by Anbumani Ramadoss 18, and the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, headed by TTV Dhinakaran, 11 seats.

Polling for all 234 Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu will be held on April 23. Other NDA allies are GK Vasan-led Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) and Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi.

Announcing the seat-sharing deal, Palaniswami expressed confidence that the alliance would win at least 210 of the 234 seats.