Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, a constituent of the four-party People's Welfare Alliance, announced its first list of candidates to contest 11 of the 25 constituencies allotted to it. Speculation was rife that Thol Thirumavalavan was going to take on Jayalalithaa at RK Nagar, but sources say that he is likely to contest from Kattumannarkoil constituency
Party sources say VCK had found it safe to field Thirumavalavan from Kattumannarkoil as the party had previously performed well in the 2014 polls. The campaigning has already begun there.
“Thirumavalavan is interested in contesting from RK Nagar but all his partymen are not sure. We want him to win a seat rather than constest from a constituency where chances of a loss are high,” a party source said. There was also a possibility that he could contest from both RK Nagar and Kattumannarkoil, but since the party was only contesting 25 seats, they did not want to deny another member a chance.
VCK general secretary D. Ravikumar and deputy general secretary Vanni Arasu chose not to contest. The first list includes general secretary M Sinthanai Selvan (Bhuvanagiri-SC, Cuddalore district), deputy general secretaries Aloor Sha Navas (Kunnam, Perambalur district) and S S Balaji (Mailam, Villupuram district). All these three constituencies have a strong VCK presence.