From April 1, top leaders of national and regional parties stormed the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies covering the southern districts from Theni to Kanniyakumari, seeking votes for their candidates. The campaign ended on Wednesday without any major untoward incident.
Starting from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami and leaders of the CPI (M), CPI, MDMK, VCK, DMDK and the Naam Tamilar Katchi sought support for their candidates and parties.
In Theni, AMMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran is pitted against Thanga Tamilselvan of the DMK. The CPI(M) has fielded Sachidanandan in Dindigul, which was earlier held by DMK’s Velusami. The AIADMK has allotted the seat to its ally SDPI’s Nellai Mubarak.
In Madurai, sitting MP Su. Venkatesan is trying his luck for the second time. He faces Saravanan of the AIADMK and Raama Sreenivasan of the BJP in the contest.
In Virudhunagar, Congress strongman Manickam Tagore is contesting against actor Radhikaa of the BJP and Vijaya Prabhakaran, son of late founder of the DMDK and actor Vijayakanth, who is contesting on the AIADMK’s two leaves symbol.
The Congress has given yet another chance to Karti Chidambaram, sitting MP, in Sivaganga constituency, where he is pitted against Xaiver Dass of the AIADMK and Devanathan Yadav of the BJP.
In Ramanathapuram, the DMK’s ally IUML has fielded Navas Kani again. While the BJP is supporting former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, who is contesting as an Independent, the AIADMK has fielded a new candidate, Jayaperumal.
In Tenkasi (Reserved) constituency, B. John Pandian is contesting with the BJP’s support and Puthiya Tamilagam leader K. Krishnasamy is contesting with the AIADMK’s support. The DMK has fielded Rani Srikumar.
In Tirunelveli, BJP’s Nainar Nagenthran takes on Robert Bruce of the Congress. While in Thoothukudi DMK leader and sitting MP Kanimozhi is seeking another term, sitting Congress MP Vijay Vasanth is trying his luck yet again in Kanniyakumari constituency, where he is facing senior BJP leader Pon. Radhakrishnan and AIADMK’s Pasilian Nazerath.
Campaign style
While Mr. Stalin attacked Mr. Modi for his “bad policies” in every meeting, Mr. Palaniswami charged the DMK and its leaders with ruining the State over the last three years.
The roadshows by BJP leaders in Madurai, Tenkasi, Kanniyakumari and other places, and the public meetings by the Dravidian party leaders drew crowds. NTK leader Seeman, who has fielded new faces and given 50% of the seats to women, covered all the 10 constituencies and appealed to the voters to give them a chance.
Cash-for-votes allegations have surfaced in parts of Theni, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Dindigul and a few other constituencies by rich candidates, who are determined to win the elections.
The Returning Officers of all the 10 constituencies had organised numerous activities and awareness programmes to ensure cent per cent voting.
The police, assisted by Central forces, have thrown a thick security blanket over the 10 constituencies and Vilavancode Assembly segment, where close to 1.5 crore voters are set to cast their votes in about 16,000 polling stations on April 19.
