All 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu will vote in the first phase on April 19. India is holding general elections starting Friday in seven phases till June 1.
The southern state is the fifth largest in terms of Lok Sabha constituencies, with 32 unreserved seats and seven reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates.
Here’s what you need to know about the Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha elections 2024.
Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha Elections
Regional parties have dominated elections in Tamil Nadu for decades. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won 24 seats with a vote share of 33.12%, while its ally Congress got eight and six seats were won by others partners.
Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the main rival of the Stalin-led All India Party, secured only one seat with a vote share of 19.15 per cent. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not win any seats and got 3.58 percent of the votes.
This time, the DMK is fighting on 21 seats and its ally Congress on nine seats. Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), also members of the alliance, are contesting two seats each, while other allies – the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) , The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KMDK) will each field candidates for one seat.
The AIADMK, the main opposition party in the state, has forged an alliance with Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), founded by actor-politician Vijayakanth, Puthiya Tamilagam (PT) and the Social Democratic Party of India ( SDPI). Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) also extended support to the AIADMK.
The AIADMK has reserved 32 seats for itself, five for the DMDK and one each for minor parties like the PT and SDPI.
The BJP has an electoral understanding with Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) or TMC-M, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) and ousted AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam.
The Saffron party is seeking 23 seats, the PMK 10, the TMC-M three and the AMMK two. They also support former CM Panneerselvam who is contesting as an independent.
The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), led by actor-director Seeman, fielded candidates in all 39 seats, offering 50 percent of the seats to women, according to The Hindu.
In total, 950 candidates are in the running. At least 15 percent of candidates in Tamil Nadu said they were facing criminal charges, The Hindu reported citing Tamil Nadu Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) which examined the affidavits of 945 candidates.
Nine percent of candidates reported serious criminal cases.
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Tamil Nadu LS poll phase
Polling for the 39 Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha seats will be held on Friday.
These constitutions include Thiruvallur, Chennai North, Chennai South, Chennai Central, Sriperumbudur, Kanchipuram, Arakkonam, Vellore, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Thiruvannamalai, Arani, Viluppuram, Kallakurichi, Salem, Namakkal, Erode, Tiruppur, Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Pollachi, Dindigul, Karur, Tiruchirappalli, Perambalur, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Sivaganga, Madurai, Theni, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari.
Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha polls: Key candidates
Kanimozhi, the sitting DMK MP, is fighting again from Thoothukudi in southern Tamil Nadu. The BJP has fielded Nainar Nagendran against her. She had defeated BJP’s Tamilisai Soundararajan in the constituency by a margin of 3,47,200 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai is another key candidate in the polls. He is contesting from Coimbatore against DMK’s Ganapathy, former mayor of the city. The BJP, which has never single-handedly won any election in Tamil Nadu and whose vote share has never reached the double-digit mark, has been striving to make an electoral breakthrough in south India . Annamalai, who is leading the party aggressively in Tamil Nadu, aims to make this goal a reality in the state.
Union Minister of State L Murugan is the BJP candidate from Nilgiris against DMK’s A Raja, former Union telecom minister. Raja had won the seat in 2019, defeating AIADMK candidate M Thiyagarajan by over 200,000 votes. AIADMK’s Lokesh Tamilselvan and NTK leader A Jayakumar are also in the fray for the seat.
AMMK’s TTV Dhinakaran is fighting from Theni, which will see a three-pole contest. DMK’s Thanga Tamil Selvan and AIADMK’s VT Narayanasamy are also testing their fortunes from their seats.
O Panneerselvam is making his Lok Sabha debut from Ramanathapuram.
Former Telangana governor Tamilisai Soundarajan is in the fray on a BJP ticket from the prestigious South Chennai constituency. She will face DMK sitting MP Tamizhachi Thangapandian and AIADMK’s J Jayavardhan from the constituency.
DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran is contesting again from Chennai Central, a stronghold of the party. The BJP has given ticket to Vinoj P Selvam from its seat.
The Congress has nominated sitting MP Karti P Chidambaram from Sivaganga. He will face BJP’s T Devanathan Yadav and AIADMK’s Xavier Dass. According to The HinduKarti’s father and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram had won the Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency seven times since 1984.
இந்திய கூட்டணியின் சிவகங்கை நாடாளுமன்ற தொகு தி காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி வெற்றி வேட்பாளர் திரு @KartiPC அவர்கள் மானாமதுரை சட்டம்றத் தொகுதி திருப்ப ுவனம்
-ல் கை சின்னத்தில் வாக்கு கேட்டு தேர்தல் பரப்ப ுரை மேற்கொண்ட போது @arivalayam pic.twitter.com/0KeiyyJoBq– MP Karthi (@mp_karthi1) April 16, 2024
Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK) leader TR Paarivendhar will take on DMK’s KN Arun Nehru and AIADMK’s ND Chandra Mohan from Perambalur.
Former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan once again got a ticket for the BJP from Kanniyakumari. He has been contesting from the constituency since 2009 and won it in the Lok Sabha polls in 2014. The Congress fielded MP Vijay Vasanth against him.
TN Lok Sabha Elections: Key Questions
According to a PTI report, rising unemployment, lack of export prospects for farmers and the issue of land acquisition for the airport project were among the top issues in the poll in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu.
The BJP attempted to make the ‘cession’ of Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka by the then Congress government at the Center in 1974 an election issue. However, it remains to be seen whether this question had an impact on voters.
The AIADMK, whose candidates are fighting over its ‘Two Leaves’ symbol, has pinned its hopes on the ‘anti-incumbency factor’ against the DMK government in the state due to inflation and tariff hike electricity, property tax rates and prices. of several dairy products, reported The Hindu.
The main opposition party also tried to corner the DMK government over its “failure” to get the state exempted from the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for medical courses, the newspaper added.
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Who will TN favor?
Tamil Nadu has voted largely in favor of one party in the last three Lok Sabha elections. The DMK and Congress, part of the INDIA bloc, appear to have an advantage in the Dravidian heartland and their alliance is likely to win most of the 39 seats.
According to News18According to the Mega Opinion Poll, the INDIA group will have an advantage with 30 seats, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) could win five seats, while the AIADMK and its allies could win four seats.
The opinion poll also predicted 51 percent vote share for the INDIA bloc, 13 percent for the NDA and 17 percent for the AIADMK and its partners.
We will have to wait until June 4 to know how Tamil Nadu voted in the Lok Sabha polls.
With the contribution of agencies
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