Makkal Needhi Maiam sources said party founder Kamal Haasan could contest from any of the four assembly constituencies – Mylapore, Alandur, T. Nagar and Velachery – in Chennai in the Assembly election.
There is an indication that he could pick Alandur constituency to reiterate his claim on the political legacy of former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran, who contested from the erstwhile Parangimalai Assembly constituency, said the sources.
The party’s office-bearers in Alandur have asked voters to register their support by calling a phone number if they want Mr. Haasan to be the candidate.
The party hopes to capitalise on the fact that it polled over 22,000 votes in the Alandur assembly segment and over 1.3 lakh votes in the Sriperumbudur Parliamentary constituency (under which the Alandur assembly constituency falls). The party also polled more than 1.3 lakh votes in the South Chennai Parliamentary constituency.
Sources said the party had polled a sizeable number of votes in these constituencies even without noticeable party infrastructure in the Lok Sabha poll. “While the party had no booth-level workers in the Lok Sabha election in 2019, we managed to appoint enough number of party cadres at the booth level. In constituencies like T. Nagar, Alandur, Mylapore and Velachery, the party has a good base to work from,” said a party source.
Mr. Haasan is expected to announce the party’s electoral alliance during the public meeting scheduled on March 7. The party had put up a good show in the urban centres in the Lok Sabha elections and hopes to pick up a few seats in Chennai and other cities such as Coimbatore and Madurai even if it chooses to lead the third front, sources said.
