63-year-old PK Sekar Babu is eyeing a hat-trick of wins from the Harbour constituency. His victory margin might not have been very impressive in 2016, but he consolidated his position in 2021.
This time around, Sekar Babu is pitted against Royapuram R Mano of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Mano contested against Kalanidhi Veeraswami of the DMK and lost by a margin of 339,222 votes.
Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) government wing state secretary A Asha Rani has little patience with the Harbour is Sekar Babu's fiefdom argument ahead of the upcoming elections. She is severely critical of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Department minister in the incumbent MK Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government, alleging that it is "vasool" (collection) raj under him.
In 2016, Sekar Babu had defeated AIADMK candidate KS Sreenivasan by a narrow 4,836 votes. However, in 2021, he polled 59,317 votes to defeat his nearest BJP rival Vinoj P Selvam by a margin of 27,274 votes. The Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) of actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan, which managed to secure a 3.74 percent vote share in 2021, is presently with the DMK, though the party is not contesting any seats after the ruling party insisted MNM candidates contest on the Rising Sun symbol instead of their own Torch Light symbol. The AIADMK have BJP and parties such as Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) in its alliance.
The real headache for Sekar Babu is likely to be caused by Joseph Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). It can split the minority community votes.
Meanwhile, Asha Rani claimed that Sekar Babu has "purchased" the constituency. She alleged that he shells out at least Rs 30,000 per house to "buy" votes.
She kept rattling off the challenges the constituency faces. "There are no good roads, there is no safety for women, rampant corruption, children from informal settlements are made to peddle drugs..."
Not far from where Asha Rani spoke to this website, an autorickshaw driver S Suresh quipped, "DMK thaan varum. Vera aalu illa." (DMK will come back to power. There is no other alternative).
K Jothilingam, who works in a private firm, said that Stalin's governance was good. There is nothing much to complain about him. As for Sekar Babu, he has nurtured the constituency well. But he has allowed people under him to loot the people.
There is one person named Kavi Arasu, who loots money in the name of Sekar Babu. Kavi Arasu owns nearly 40 buildings in the constituency, Jothilingam charged. There are such people in the AIADMK too, he hastened to add.
"Life is hard for the people here," said one John. But added that Sekar Babu is "a good man".
"They call Harbour a DMK fortress. But there is no basic facility for the people living here," complained D Vimal Kumar, a BJP functionary.
"With elections round the corner, Sekar Babu is pumping a lot of money in the constituency," reiterated Asha Rani.
"Without solving the issues faced by the people what good will come out of giving money and gifts to the voters?" she asked.
She claimed that girl students are dropping out of school once they finish Class X because of a lack of safety.
The constituency, which encompasses the bustling commercial area of Sowcarpet, is notable for having one of the city's highest concentrations of Marwari and Gujarati communities. The local DMK councillor Rajesh Jain belongs to the Marwari community. Sekar Babu is trying to woo the community with the help of Rajesh. But most people who run shops in Sowcarpet are discontent with the government because of the "collection" raj, she alleged.
R Kayalvizhi, who claims she is usually an AIADMK supporter, said that this time around however she would vote for the DMK for a change.
Apart from minority votes, Actor Vijay's TVK would also split informal settlement votes, said Asha Rani.
The TVK has fielded Sinora PS Ashok in the constituency. The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) has fielded R Faisan Sherif.
The Harbour Assembly constituency had been with the Indian National Congress (INC) from 1952 to 1962. In 1967 and 1971, independent candidates won from the constituency.
Between 1971 and 2006, the constituency was with the DMK. AIADMK's Pala Karuppiah won in 2011. In 2016, Sekar Babu won the seat and retained it again in 2021.