The Makkal Needhi Maiam must win some seats in the urban local bodies elections if it wants to be taken seriously in Tamil Nadu, according to its party leadership.
The party hopes its founder Kamal Haasan, the big draw in the organisation, will launch a significant campaign to taste an electoral success that has eluded it since it was founded in 2018.
The Makkal Needhi Maiam’s vote share came down from 3.69% in the 2019 Lok Sabha election to 2.62% in the 2021 Assembly election. It remains an urban-centric party. It fared better in the urban constituencies in 2021, especially in and around Chennai where it came third in 12 of the 16 constituencies.
A senior leader said, “It is high time we won some seats” this time, given that the elections will be held in urban areas.
Good support
“We are hoping to field our candidates in all the seats in the urban constituencies. We believe it is possible to find good candidates as we have a good deal of support among the urban voters,” another senior leader said, adding the party was at a point where it had to win a few seats to remain relevant.
After failing to prove its worth in the Assembly election, the party, which had until April last stayed away from protests and confined itself to litigation, has tried to change its tack. It launched a protest to highlight the rising fuel prices in July last. The party struggled to field candidates in the recent rural local bodies elections and many of its cadre admitted that the party had found it tough to penetrate into the rural areas.
Mr. Haasan recently released a list of 47 candidates for the Coimbatore urban local bodies elections. He is expected to announce candidates soon for Chennai and other corporations.
