Though it was speculated that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam would field a good number of youngsters from its youth wing as its candidates for the six Assembly segments in the district, the party has reposed its faith in old warhorses.
In the coastal segment of Radhapuram, the DMK has fielded three-time MLA M. Appavu, the party’s ‘face’ in the electronic media. He takes on little known I.S. Inbadurai of AIADMK. After being elected from this constituency in 1996 in the Moopanar-led Tamil Maanila Congress ticket, Mr. Appavu, a retired teacher, contested the 2001 election as an Independent and joined the DMK in 2005.
On being fielded by the DMK in 2006, he was elected to the Assembly with a comfortable margin.
Though he lost his electoral battle in 2011 to former Industries Minister Nainar Nagenthran of AIADMK by a whopping margin of over 38,000 votes, the DMK has once again fielded A.L.S. Lakshmanan, son of the late Tirunelveli Mayor A.L. Subramanian, known as ‘ALS’ in political circles, in Tirunelveli constituency.
The nomination of former Speaker R. Avudaiyappan in Ambasamudram has revived the age-old rivalry between him and AIADMK’s R. Murugaiah Pandian as they are going to get involved in an engrossed battle of ballot for the third time. In the past two electoral battles in 1996 and 2006, Mr. Avudaiyappan defeated Mr. Murugaiah Pandian and it will be interesting to watch the tussle between the old warhorses. Mr. Avudaiyappan is testing his electoral fortune for the fourth time in succession as he had lost 2001 and 2011 elections in the same segment to M. Sakthivel Murugan and E. Subaya respectively.
The nomination of sitting MLA T.P.M. Mohideen Khan in Palayamkottai is a surprise for everyone, especially the DMK cadres, as it was widely expected that party’s Tirunelveli Central district secretary Abdul Wahab would get the ticket. ‘King’ Khan, who has been elected to the Assembly thrice earlier – 2001, 2006 and 2011 – from this constituency, has been fielded again. On being elected in 2006, Mr. Mohideen Khan became the Minister for Environment and then Minister for Sports and Youth Welfare.
Daughter of the late Minister Aladi Aruna and former Minster Poongothai Aladi Aruna has been fielded in Alangulam, from where she was elected to the Assembly in 2006 to become a Minister. She takes on a tough opponent Hepzi Karthikeyan, chairperson of Alangulam panchayat union.
The DMK has fielded former Sankarankoil Municipal Chairperson Anbumani Ganesan in the reserved constituency.
