PUDUCHERRY: The DMK on Tuesday released its list of candidates for 13 constituencies and allocated one seat to the ally VCK for the Puducherry Assembly elections scheduled to be held on April 9. The announcement was made by the party’s Puducherry organiser R Siva. He will seek re-election from Villianur.
In Mangalam, SS Rangan has been fielded to take on Chief Minister N Rangasamy. In Thirubuvanai, P Angalaan, an Independent MLA who recently joined the DMK, has been fielded.
DMK MLAs R Senthilkumar (Bahour), L Sampath (Mudaliarpet), and Anibal Kennedy (Uppalam) have all been renominated. In Orleanpet, the party has fielded S Gopal, while V Karthikeyan, who lost by a narrow margin to BJP’s Vivilian Richards in the previous election, will try his luck again from Nellithope.
Vignesh Kannan, son of veteran Congress leader and former MP P Kannan, will contest from the Raj Bhavan constituency. Other candidates include A Senthil (Kalapet), P Vadivelu (Kathirkamam), AMH Nazim (Karaikal South), and Nagathiyakarajan (Neravy). The Ouzhavarkarai constituency has been allotted to the VCK as part of the alliance arrangement.
However, the decision not to allot any seat to the CPI has caused discontent within the Left party, which was expecting representation in the alliance. CPI candidates have filed nominations in Uzhavarkarai and Thattanchavady.
In the last election, the CPI contested from Thattanchavady as part of the alliance, where its candidate K Sethuselvam finished second behind Rangasamy. While Thattanchavady has now been allotted to the Congress and Uzhavarkarai to the VCK, CPI state secretary Saleem said he had contacted R Siva over the issue.
In 2021, the DMK contested 13 seats and won six, while the Congress contested 14 and won two. The VCK and CPI drew a blank.