AIADMK poll manifesto promises, fridges, LPG, free travel

CHENNAI: The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Tuesday unveiled its manifesto for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, bringing in a slew of freebies including free refrigerators, LPG cylinders as well as bus travel aimed to sway voters with a mix of populist and welfare schemes to ease the cost of living and boosting livelihoods.

Party General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami released the document at the party headquarters in Chennai, highlighting economic relief and social welfare as central themes of the campaign. The move comes a day after it announced the seat-sharing formula with its NDA partners where the AIADMK will contest 178 seats and the BJP will fight in 27 constituencies.

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Among the key announcements are that women heads of families holding rice ration cards will receive free refrigerators. The manifesto also doubles down on household welfare as a theme by providing a monthly assistance scheme of ?10,000 for every family and a direct financial benefit of ?2,000 per month for women. The manifesto also pledges free bus travel for both men and women, expanding on existing transport subsidies.

No seat gain for single-member states and UTs in delimitation

The AIADMK also said it will provide three free LPG cylinders annually to every family. Food security and essential supplies form another major component of the manifesto with the party committing to distribute one kilogram of dal and one litre of cooking oil free of cost to ration card holders, in addition to the existing supply of rice.