Nearly two days after it took the lion’s share of Assembly seats for the crucial Tamil Nadu polls, the AIADMK released its first list of 23 candidates, fielding prominent names like general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and former health minister C Vijayabaskar. Two more lists were released in quick succession for the remaining 146 assembly seats. Junior partner PMK also announced its final list on March 30.
The BJP camp, however, is yet to release one. This comes despite Union Minister and Tamil Nadu election in-charge Piyush Goyal’s arrival in Chennai to vet candidates. The party is expected to settle on its names within the next two days to ensure nominations are filed by the April 6 deadline.
Political experts attribute the delay to a mix of strategic alliance maneuvering and internal friction within the state unit.
Here are the primary reasons for the delay:
The “Annamalai Factor” & Internal Leadership
Internal strife and leadership pressure are stalling candidate lists of the BJP, local media reports said. An internal committee set up by the party is learnt to have shortlisted three people for every seat and forwarded the names to the central leadership for approval. The candidates will be officially announced once the approval of the party’s parliamentary board arrives, state unit chief Nainar Nagenthran said, according to the New Indian Express.
Asked if former state chief K. Annamalai was a part of the list, he said that everyone, including women and youth, has been included, The New Indian Express said in a report. Earlier reports had claimed that Annamalai had backed out of the contest over his disapproval of the seats allotted to the BJP by the AIADMK.
There are also reports that Annamalai wants to contest from a seat in the Coimbatore district, which is also reportedly sought by Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan.
Constituency Swapping
The BJP is also reportedly exploring the possibility of swapping two constituencies allotted to them. The two seats – Thanjavur and Gandarvakottai – were won by DMK and its ally CPM in 2021. While BJP does not have a familiar face in Gandarvakottai, AIADMK has expressed interest in securing Thanjavur, as per reports.
Several senior leaders are reportedly unhappy with their assigned seats. Vanathi Srinivasan and Nainar Nagenthran have reportedly requested the leadership for change in their constituencies to better align with shifting demographics and local anti-incumbency trends.
The party is using internal surveys to vet every name, leading to multiple rounds of screening by the Central Election Committee (CEC) in Delhi.
Impact of New Players (TVK)
The entry of actor Vijay’s TVK has complicated the math. The BJP is closely studying the seats where TVK has fielded its strongest candidates to avoid a three-way split of the “anti-DMK” or “youth” vote.
The BJP is the second-largest party in the NDA alliance in Tamil Nadu, contesting 27 seats. The PMK has been allotted 18 seats. Meanwhile, junior partners like the AMMK is in the fray for 11, the TMM five seats, the IJK two seats, and the TMMK one seat.
Tamil Nadu will vote on April 23 and and the counting of votes will be held on Monday, May 4. |
