CHENNAI: The Election Commission of India on Monday announced the schedule for biennial elections for the six vacancies in the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu on June 19.
The term of six MPs from Tamil Nadu—Anbumani Ramadoss, M Shanmugam, N Chandrasegharan, M Mohammed Abdulla, P Wilson, and Vaiko—will expire on July 25.
The filing nomination will begin on June 2, and the last date for filing nominations is June 9. The nominations will be scrutinised on June 10, and the last date for withdrawal of nominations will be June 12.
With the present strength of the MLAs in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the DMK is likely to get four MPs and the AIADMK two.
With six vacancies in the Rajya Sabha and 234 members in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, at least 34 votes are necessary to elect one Rajya Sabha member.
The DMK has 134 MLAs, including the Assembly Speaker, and it's allies have 25 MLAs. As such, the ruling DMK can get four MPs from its own cadre.
The AIADMK has 66 MLAs, including former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and his three supporters. The party can win one seat comfortably; to win one more, AIADMK will need the support of it's ally, the BJP.
However, there are many claimants for the two Rajya Sabha seats in the AIADMK.
DMDK general secretary Premalatha Vijayakant recently claimed that the AIADMK had promised one Rajya Sabha seat, which AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami denied.
Since the AIADMK revived its alliance with the BJP, sources said that the saffron party may request the AIADMK to give one Rajya Sabha seat in the upcoming by-elections.
Interestingly, on May 25, 2022, exactly three years ago, the AIADMK announced its two candidates contesting the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha.
The AIADMK — with O Panneerselvam as its coordinator and Edappadi K Palaniswami as its joint coordinator — announced the candidates CVe Shanmugam (a supporter of Palaniswami) and R Dharmar (supporter of Panneerselvam).
The announcement of the candidates took an unusually long time due to differences between Panneerselvam and Palaniswami. This led to the demand for a single-person leadership within the AIADMK. Eventually, at the general council meeting of the party on July 11, 2022, Panneerselvam was removed as the coordinator and Palaniswami appointed as the interim general secretary of the party.
In the DMK, one seat is likely to be given to MNM president Kamal Haasan, as per an agreement made during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Since Durai Vaiko, son of MDMK general secretary Vaiko, has been made an MP, sources observed that Vaiko may not be given one more opportunity to become an MP. Senior lawyer P Wilson will likely get one more term. The DMK will deliberate on candidates for the remaining two seats.