Tiruvarur bypoll: DMK, AMMK announce their candidates

Tiruvarur district in Southern Tamil Nadu is all geared up for the bypoll which is scheduled to take place in the constituency on January 28.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of former chief minister M Karunanidhi who had won the seat by a huge margin in 2016 assembly elections.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Friday (January 4) announced Poondi Kalaivanan as its candidate for the bypoll. Party president MK Stalin announced Kalaivanan's candidature at the end of the interview with ticket aspirants held at Anna Arivalayam, DMK headquarters.

Kalaivanan hails from a family of DMK loyalists. She has been elected twice as the district secretary of Tiruvarur.

Kalaivanan emerged as a front-runner for the post after Stalin shot down the proposal to contest the bypoll.

As opposed to DMK, the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagham (AMMK) deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran announced S Kamraj as the party candidate for the bypoll. A former MP, Kamraj is the district secretary of Tiruvarur. Kamraj would file his nomination on January 8.

"Tiruvarur is no longer the fort of DMK. This election results will prove that it is the fort of AMMK. People of Tiruvarur need a change and they will vote for AMMK in large numbers. We won RK Nagar by a margin of 40,000 votes. Our candidate will win by a bigger margin in Tiruvarur", Dhinakaran said.

The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) camp is yet to announce its candidate for the bypoll. The party's high-level committee will meet on Saturday (January 5) to choose its candidate.

Courtesy :  India Today