A week ahead of the nominations, DMDK leader Vijayakant announced that he would contest from the Ulundurpet constituency in Villupuram district.
PMK leader and the party’s chief ministerial candidate Anbumani Ramadoss will contest from Pennagaram, a constituency represented by G.K. Mani twice; Mr. Mani will contest from Mettur.
Realising that the contest is on, the AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa changed eight candidates, bringing in three Ministers and a former Minister to take on rival candidates in the DMK and the DMDK-PWF-TMC alliance.
Ms. Jayalalithaa has fielded Higher Education Minister P. Palaniappan in Papireddipatti. According to sources, he has been brought back to consolidate the non-Vanniyar votes to defeat the PMK in its stronghold. In Sankarapuram, Rural Village Industries Minister P. Mohan has been nominated in place of Rajasekar. Tourism Minister S.P. Shanmuganathan has replaced Bhuvaneswaran in Srivaikuntam.
In Erode (West), former PWD Minister K.V. Ramalingam has been fielded again.
Replacing Tamilarasi in Tiruchirpalli (East), Vellamandi N. Natarajan has been nominated. In Koilpatti, sitting MLA Kadambur Raju replaces Ramanujan Ganesh. In Arakkonam (Reserve), S. Ravi will replace Ko.Si. Manivannan.
S.K.A. Haider Ali has been fielded at Palayamkottai, replacing Thamizhmagan Hussein .
