The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) will name its candidates for the Nanguneri and Vikravandi Assembly byelections on Wednesday, according to O. Panneerselvam, Deputy Chief Minister and co-coordinator of the party.
The party would announce its nominee for the bypoll to the Kamaraj Nagar Assembly constituency in Puducherry. The party would begin its election work on October 4.
Emerging from a meeting held at the party headquarters here to discuss the preparedness for bypolls, Mr. Paneerselvam told reporters that the prospects for his party’s victory in the constituencies looked “bright.”
Ministers, MLAs, MPs and functionaries, including secretaries of district units and spokespersons, took part in the 75-minute meeting, which was chaired by E. Madhusudanan, chairman of the party presidium. They were briefed about the assignment of byelection work in the two seats.
Precursor to other polls
A cross-section of participants quoted Chief Minister and cocoordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami as having pointed out that the bypolls would be a precursor to local bodies’ polls and even the Assembly elections, due in April-May 2021. This was why all the functionaries should work with a sense of purpose and cohesion.
The Chief Minister was said to have recalled how the party lost in the election in Vellore parliamentary constituency in early August by a narrow margin.
This was barely three months after the Lok Sabha polls, where the AIADMK lost in many constituencies by huge margins.
Panneerselvam’s plea
Mr. Panneerselvam exhorted the functionaries to take along grass-roots workers during the campaign for the bypolls.
Among those who were said to be in the race for the Nanguneri seat were former MPs Paul Manoj Pandian and K.R.P. Prabhakaran, and Tiruneveli local office-bearer Thatchai Ganesh Raja, while the names of former MP, R. Lakshmanan and functionaries in Villupuram district, R.Velu and Muthamizh Selvan were doing rounds in the party circles for the Vikravandi seat.
