The two Dravidian rivals, besides the PMK, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Aam Aadmi are in the contest in this constituency. However, the real fight will be between the AIADMK, DMK and PMK.
This constituency was formed in 1977 and has faced ten Lok Shabha elections. The DMK, AIADMK and Congress won two times each, while the Tamil Manila Congress won one time and the PMK three times.
The constituency comprises six Assembly constituencies, including Palacode, Pennagaram, Dharmapuri, Harur (reserved), Pappireddipatti and Mettur.
According to the final draft poll list, released on January 10, this constituency has 13,30,034 voters, including 6,82,875 men and 6, 47, 083 and seventy six transgenders.
In the last Lok Shabha election, DMK candidate Thamaraiselvan won from the seat. This time, the constituency faces multi-cornered contest and the victory margin is expected to be very narrow.
This election is a do or die election for the PMK, which has fielded its star candidate Anbumani Ramadoss, former Union minister and son of party founder S Ramadoss.
Besides a strong presence of Vanniyars, the seat has Dalits and tribals. The Communist party has a strong base in Harur. After 25 years, both the DMK and AIADMK are in the ring. In 1989 when the PMK entered the contest for the
first time, out of 6,90,708 votes, the AIADMK candidate, M G Sekar, bagged 3,15,921 votes and won the election. The DMK candidate M Kandasamy bagged just 1,54,220 votes and got a third place, while the PMK finished second.
Communist parties also have a vote bank in this backward district. It after a huge span of thirty years that the Left parties are contesting from here.
The Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi, which has a Vanniyar vote bank in this district, has declared its support to the AIADMK. The Tamil National parties and the fringe Tamil groups had decided to support the AIADMK in this election following the recent stand of Jayalalitha to release the convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.