It will be essentially a triangular contest between the two major Dravidin parties and CPI in the coastal constituency of Nagapattinam.
The present Nagapattinam constituency has six assembly segments including Nagapattinam, Kilvelur (SC) and Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam district and Tiruvarur, Nannilam and Thiruthuraipoondi (SC) assembly constituencies in Tiruvarur district.
The reserved constituency has a total of 11, 88, 738 eligible voters including a sum of 5, 96, 019 male voters and 5, 92, 712 female voters besides seven transgender voters from Tiruvarur assembly constituency.
Being a tail-end district of the Cauvery delta with 1.37 lakh hectare of cultivable area for both samba and kuruvai paddy plantations and also with the substantial fleet strength of 1064 mechanised boats, fishing and farming activities happens to be the major economic contributors for the district.
Apart from earmarked tags of fisheries and farming professionals, the Nagapattinam district has major pilgrimage centres including the Shrine Basilica at Velankanni, Hazrat Syed Shahul Hameed Dargah at Nagore and plenty of temples at the heart of the town. So, tourism has always been a key factor for driving commercial activities. However, the poor conditions of the arterial roadways and the bad shape of Nagapattinam new bus stand, besides the lack of amenities continues to irk the tourists.
Besides, the general public of the coastal district here opines that the constituency has other demands to be addressed.
The AIADMK was the first to field Dr K Gopal as its candidate for the Nagapattinam Parliamentary constituency.
In the DMK, the sitting MP AKS Vijayan was re-nominated. The 52 year old graduate Vijayan has been consecutively elected to Parliament from the Nagapattinam constituency three times since 1999.
The left parties have announced G Palanisamy of CPI who have won from Thiruthuraipoondi (SC) assembly constituency for four consecutive times during the 1989, 1991, 1996 and 2001 state assembly elections as their candidate.