The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will be back at the hustings after more than two decades in Tiruchi.
Tiruchi constituency, thanks to its sizeable workforce electorate, remained a favourite hunting ground for the left parties in the past. Veteran Communist leaders K.Anantha Nambiar and M.Kalyanasundaram had won the constituency twice each.
Anantha Nambiar contested from here on Communist Party of India ticket in 1957 and 1962 and as CPI (M) candidate in 1967. He lost to Congress candidate M.K.M.A.Salam in the 1957 election, but emerged victorious in the next two elections.
Late Kalyanasundaram emerged victorious from here in 1971 and 1977, trouncing Congress (Organisation) nominees on both the occasions.
The CPI (M) fielded T. K. Rangarajan, current Rajya Sabha member, in Tiruchi in 1980, 1989, and 1991, though he could not taste success even once.
ThanjavurThe coming election also sees the left parties testing the waters for the first time in Thanjavur Lok Sabha constituency, which accounts for a large number of farm workers. The seat has been allotted to the CPI (M).
There is no surprise in CPI opting for Nagapattinam- Reserved constituency, touted as a Communist forte, as the party has been a regular here since 1957 general elections except in 2004. The CPI, which wrested the constituency from the Congress in 1971 for the first time, won from here in 1977, 1979, 1989, 1996 and 1998.
The CPI’s hold on Nagapattinam constituency could be gauged from the fact that it was the only seat won by the party in the State in the 1989 elections when it faced the polls under DMK-Janata Dal-CPI-CPI (M) combine.
Party’s nominee M.Selvarasu who romped home also tasted success in the subsequent elections in 1996 and 1998. The AIADMK-Congress alliance had won the rest of the 38 constituencies in the State.
