Actor-turned politician Kamal Haasan will contest from the Coimbatore South constituency in the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly election, he said on Friday, while releasing the second list of candidates of his party Makkal Needhi Maiam.
The decision will pit him against Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress candidates, who have been allotted the seat in their respective alliances, according to The News Minute.
“In the battle in Coimbatore South, I see a fight for the soil, language and people of Tamil Nadu,” he wrote on Twitter. “It is not me who will win this battle, it will be all of Tamil Nadu.”
Subha Charles from Kanniyakumari, R Mahendran from Singanallur, Dr Santosh Babu from Velachery and Pazha Karuppiah from T Nagar are among other names in the MNM’s second list, NDTV reported.
The MNM will contest 154 of the 234 seats in Tamil Nadu, while its allies, the All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi and Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi, will fight 40 seats each.
MK Stalin to contest from Kolathur
Meanwhile, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam also released the list of 173 candidates it will put up in the elections. However, together with its allies, many of whom are contesting on its rising sun symbol, the DMK will be indirectly contesting in 187 constituencies, according to The News Minute.
Party chief MK Stalin will fight from the Kolathur constituency, while his son Udhayanidhi will make his electoral debut from Chepauk-Triplicane, PTI reported. Addressing a press conference at the DMK headquarters in Chennai, Stalin said he will file his nomination papers on March 15.
Stalin will be contesting from the constituency for the third time after having successfully done so on two previous occasions in 2011 and 2016. In 2011, Stalin defeated Saidai Duraisamy of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam by a rather slender margin of 2,734 votes. Five years later, he improved his performance, defeating AIADMK’s JCD Prabhakar by a margin of 37,730 votes. Meanwhile Udhayanidhi Stalin’s seat is a stronghold of the DMK, and was represented by his grandfather and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Karunanidhi on three occasions.
The remaining seats have been allocated to other allies, including the Congress, which will contest 25 seats. The Left parties, Thol Thirumavalavan’s Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, the Muslim League and Manithaneya Makkal Katchi are also part of the alliance.
Elections to the 234-seat Tamil Nadu Assembly and the bye-poll to Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat will be held in a single phase on April 6. The results will be announced on May 2.
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