After a month-long intense canvassing by multiple political players, for 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry, the campaign came to a close on Wednesday evening.
On Friday (April 19), nearly 6.23 crore electors in Tamil Nadu will cast their votes to choose 39 Members of Parliament out of 950 candidates.
Around 10.24 lakh voters in Puducherry will choose their nominee for the lone seat from 26 contestants. Among the known faces in the fray are: Tamilisai Soundararajan (South Chennai) and Pon Radhakrishnan (Kanniyakumari), both belonging to the BJP; Karti Chidambaram (Sivaganga)and S. Jothimani (Karur) of the Congress; Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (Thoothukudi) and Dayanidhi Maran (Central Chennai) of the DMK; Singai G. Ramachandran (Coimbatore) and J. Jayavardhan (South Chennai) of the AIADMK; former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam (Ramanathapuram) and the AMMK’s chief T.T.V. Dhinakaran (Theni).
Traditional rivals – the DMK and the AIADMK – slogged it out in the fray, heading their own fronts and the burden of their campaign was essentially borne by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin for the former and his predecessor Edappadi K. Palaniswami for the latter.
In respect of the ruling party, Minister for Sports and Youth Development Udhayanidhi Stalin, who hogged the headlines in September last, over his observations on Sanatana Dharma, conducted extensive roadshows. Premalatha Vijayakant, general secretary of the AIADMK’s ally, the DMDK, did as much as she could in canvassing for votes. In Virudhunagar, her son, Vijaya Prabhakaran, is taking on the two-time and sitting MP, B. Manickam Tagore of the Congress, and veteran film actor Radikaa Sarathkumar, of the BJP.
There are two more players in the field – the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) coalition and the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), both of which sought to promote themselves as an alternative to the Dravidian majors. They were no less serious in their efforts. In the case of the former, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his Ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, and the national party’s chief, J.P. Nadda, travelled across the State, apart from the State unit president, K. Annamalai, who is contesting in Coimbatore of the western belt, to canvass for votes.
The NTK founder, Seeman, who set apart one half of the party tickets for women, declared the two Dravidian majors and the two national parties as his adversaries. Contrary to the level of engagement by Mr. Modi with the people this time, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge made only token presence.
Even though issues that figured prominently in northern parts of the country, such as consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the termination of the special constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) did not have resonance in the State; the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of 2019 was raised by the two Dravidian majors. While the DMK stood for its repeal, the AIADMK was for bringing Muslims and refugees from Sri Lanka under the fold of the law. Needless to say, inflation and unemployment were among the issues raised by the parties.
As part of their trading barbs on each other, the DMK found fault with the AIADMK for having a “secret alliance” with the BJP despite the formal separation. Mr. Palaniswami continued blaming the ruling party for “deterioration” in law and order and the “rampant” prevalence of drugs.
Unlike Mr. Annamalai and even Mr. Shah who criticised their erstwhile partner AIADMK, the Prime Minister preferred to praise the Dravidian major’s leaders. He did not share his colleagues’ criticism. However, both Mr. Shah and Mr. Modi sought to corner the DMK over a host of issues, such as the row over Sanatana Dharma and Katchatheevu.
As for Puducherry, all the four leading contestants favoured that the Union Territory be given Statehood.
With a multi-cornered contest all over the State and the Union Territory, what may become inevitable is that one party or the other may play spoilsport for the runner-up in many constituencies.
