Stalin to contest from Kolathur, son Udhayanidhi to make electoral debut

DMK president MK Stalin will contest the assembly elections a third time from Kolathur, and his son Udhayanidhi is set to make his electoral debut from the Chepauk-Triplicane constituency.

These were the highlights in the list of 173 candidates released by the DMK for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections to be held on April 6.

Chepauk-Triplicane, earlier known as Chepauk, was represented by the late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi - Udhayanidhi's grandfather - and the symbolism, if any, may not be a coincidence.


Udhayanidhi is an actor-film producer who started making political appearances only as late as three years ago. He was made the DMK youth wing secretary after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which the party swamped rival AIADMK.

The constituency was represented in the outgoing Assembly by the late J Anbazhagan , the DMK MLA who died of COVID-19 related complications last year.

After the list was out there were expected jibes, with Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami asking voters to reject the "dynasty politics" of the DMK.

The DMK, which has been out of power since 2011, has retained 79 sitting MLAs including seniors Durai Murugan, K Ponmudi, MRK Panneerselvam, P Geetha Jeevan and Poongothai Aladi Aruna.

It is fighting this election in an alliance with the Congress, the Left and some minor parties like the MDMK. Though 61 seats - including 25 for the Congress - were given to allies, the DMK effectively will be contesting in 187 of the 234 seats, since candidates of some of the minor parties will be contesting under the 'rising sun' symbol.

The DMK will be in direct fights with the AIADMK in 122 seats, including that of Chief Minister K Palaniswami's Edapadi and his deputy O Panneerselvam's Bodinayakanur constituencies.