After dissidence erupted in the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee headquarters in Chennai, selection of candidates for the assembly elections, the party finally announced a list close to midnight. On Saturday night, the Congress party released the first list of 21 candidates for the April 6 polls. The list was issued after a meeting of the Congress' central election committee chaired by interim party chief Sonia Gandhi.
For the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha bye-elections, Vijayakumar Vasanth has been made the candidate for the party. He is the son of late MP Vasanthakumar and serves as the CEO of Vasanth & Co. His father had held the post till his death in 2020 following complications due to COVID-19. Vijay Vasanth is also an actor who has appeared in films including Chennai 600028, Thozha and Naadodigal.
The Congress will be directly facing off against the BJP directly in five constituencies including Coimbatore South, Vilavankodu, Kolachel, Udhagamandalam and Karaikudi.
For the Assembly polls, where the Congress is contesting in 25 seats, and they have selected Mayura S Jayakumar to contest in Coimbatore (South). This is expected to be a high profile fight, given that actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan will contest there.
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee's working president Mayura S Jayakumar was always considered the favourite for the seat and had even contested from there for the previous Assembly elections and stood second in the constituency.
In Udhagamandalam, the party has fielded R Ganesh. In 2016, he secured 67,747 votes beating the AIADMK candidate in the constituency.
In Karaikudi, Congress has announced a candidate named S Mangudi for the polls.
While the first list has no women, it sees several relatives getting seats for the assembly elections. S.T. Ramachandran, son of party MP Su. Thirunavukkarasar, has been chosed to contest in Aranthangi. Son of former TNCC president E.V.K.S. Elangovan, Thirumurugan Evera has been named as as the candidate for Erode (East). R. Mohan Kumaramangalam, son of late Union Minister Rangarajan and Urvasi S. Amirtharaj, son of late Congress MLA Selvaraj, is contesting from Srivaikundam.
Here is the full list of candidates from Congress’s first list:
Ponneri - Durai Chandrasekhar
Sriperumbudur - K Selvaperunthagai
Sholingur - AM Munirathnam
Uthangarai - JS Arumugam
Kallkurichi - KI Manirathinam
Omalur - Mohan Kumaramangalam
Erode - Thirumagan Evera
Udhagamandalam - R Ganesh
Coimbatore South - Mayura S Jayakumar
Udumalaipettai - K Thennarasu
Vriddhachalam - MRR Radhakrishnan
Aranthangi - ST Ramachandran
Karaikudi - S Mangudi
Melur - T Ravichandran
Srivilliputhur - PSW Madhava Rao
Sivakasi - AMSG Ashokan
Tiruvadana - RM Karumanickam
Srivaikuntam - Urvasi S Amirtharaj
Tenkasi - S Palani Nadar
Nanguneri - Ruby R Manoharan
Killiyoor - S Rajeshkumar