Chennai, March 27:
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Friday released its second list of 127 candidates for the April 23 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, naming 17 women, 11 former Ministers and two former MPs.
With this, party General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami has announced candidates for 150 constituencies, including the first list of 23 candidates released earlier. The list largely retains senior leaders and experienced faces, many of whom had served as Ministers under late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and during the previous AIADMK regime.
The party has decided to contest 167 of the 234 seats, after allocating constituencies to its NDA partners, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam and Tamil Maanila Congress, besides smaller allies. Some allies will contest under the AIADMKās āTwo Leavesā symbol, while others will use the BJPās āLotusā symbol.
In the latest list, the party has renominated 46 sitting MLAs and fielded several former Ministers in their traditional strongholds, underscoring its reliance on experience and winnability. Notable among the former Ministers are B.V. Ramana (Tiruvallur), Madhavaram V. Moorthy (Madhavaram), P. Balakrishna Reddy (Hosur), S. Ramachandran (Keezhpennathur), Mukkur N. Subramanian (Cheyyar), MSM Anandan (Tiruppur North), Pollachi V. Jayaraman (Pollachi), Udumalai K. Radhakrishnan (Udumalai), E. Subbiah (Ambasamudram) and Thalavai N. Sundaram (Kanyakumari).
Former MPs K. Hari (Tiruttani) and Chitlapakkam S. Rajendran (Tambaram) have also been fielded. Of the candidates announced so far, eight are doctors, including two women.
The AIADMK is yet to announce candidates for the remaining 17 constituencies, as electioneering gathers pace across the State.