CHENNAI: On the chariot street surrounding the ancient Parthasarathy Temple, a woman in a bright red saree, with ‘thirumann’ prominently splashed on her forehead, was busy shooing away stray cows loitering on the road. Kumari Ramakrishnan, a resident in her late 40s who has lived here since childhood, looked visibly worried.
“Many people in the locality may vote for Udhayanidhi Stalin, but please ask him to clear this stray cow menace at least this time,” she tells TNIE, referring to the Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister and Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni MLA.
In this constituency, stray cows are everywhere. Despite fines levied on owners and seizure of cattle, little has changed. “We have made several petitions. We have also requested the cattle owners. But nothing has helped,” she says.
Many residents live in slums in the constituency, spread across Ayodhya Nagar, Mattan Kuppam, Border Thottam, Lock Nagar, Ram Ragaram, Meenambal Sivaraj Nagar, Krishnampettai – all adjacent to the Buckingham Canal. In the absence of pattas in their name, most of these residents live in the fear of being evicted. Both the Dravidian majors, have cast a blind eye towards them for long.
“When Assembly elections arrive, they promise us pattas and rehabilitation. Nothing happens. We continue to live on the margins fearing that one day they will chase us away,” says S Ramkumar, a resident of Ayodhya Nagar.
The narrow lanes of Triplicane, which accommodate a bunch of ‘mansions’ and lodges, serve as a haven for newcomers to Chennai but parking woes and network issues make their life difficult.
“Since it is the oldest part of the city set up by British, we understand the difficulties in broadening the roads and expanding other facilities, but the government could at least consider setting up a common parking lot, which would ease the parking and traffic issues in the locality,” R Muthukumar, a native of Ramanathapuram, who recently moved to Chennai, says.
S Siva, an art director who has been living in the locality for over a decade, says poor mobile network coverage has been the biggest problem in the area. “I wish Udhayanidhi would sort out the mobile network issue,” Siva rues.
Once the turf of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, who won consecutive terms in 1996, 2001 and 2006, the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni seat is now held by his grandson Udhayanidhi Stalin. In his maiden election in 2021, Udhayanidhi romped to victory with 93,285 votes and a vote share of 67.89%, crushing PMK’s AVA Kassali by a margin of 69,355 votes.
However, the AIADMK, which left this seat to its alliance partner PMK in 2021, has this time fielded its own candidate, Aadirajaram, who lost to Chief Minister MK Stalin in Kolathur in 2021. Aadirajaram, who has not commenced campaigning, could not be reached for comment. However, the pitting of an AIADMK party functionary against Udhayanidhi in a constituency, where DMK has won 10 out of 11 times since 1977, looks like a symbolic challenge.
The real litmus test is for new entrant Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) candidate D Selvam, a former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) general secretary who crossed over to actor Vijay’s party just days before the announcement of candidates. His nomination is clearly aimed at testing whether the TVK can make even a dent in the DMK stronghold. The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) has fielded Ayesha Begum, with an aim to consolidate the considerable Muslim vote share in the constituency.
Udhayanidhi’s debut in 2021 was a statement of political succession, and his margin — the largest in the constituency’s post-delimitation history — left no doubt about the terrain’s leaning.
Since his election, Udhayanidhi has risen rapidly through government ranks – first as Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development in December 2022, and then as Deputy Chief Minister in September 2024, becoming the youngest person and only the third to hold that office in the state.
At the constituency, he has focused on fixing long-pending civic issues alongside steady infrastructure expansion, in the form of a skill and sports centre, cement roads and smart classrooms. He has also resolved long-time complaints related to drinking water shortages, sewage issues and rainwater stagnation in certain neighbourhoods.
Visiting his constituency, Udhayanidhi made an emotional appeal to voters, saying he has been the ‘chella pillai’ of the constituency. “Be it Covid-19, or the rainy season, I have been with you and fulfilled all your wishes. I genuinely know that you all would vote for me and help me win with a bigger margin this time as well,” he said.