MDMK nominates Vaiko as its candidate for Rajya Sabha polls

 DMK’s ally MDMK named on Tuesday party general secretary Vaikoas its candidate from Tamilnadu for the 18 July Rajya Sabha polls.

A high-level MDMK meet here decided to nominate its chief Vaiko for the lone seat allotted to it by the DMK as part of a pre-poll agreement during the 2019 general elections.

The 75-year-old leader is a staunch supporter of the cause of Tamils in Sri Lanka and had been a DMK Rajya Sabha member from 1978 to 1996.

Of the six Rajya Sabha vacancies from Tamil Nadu, the ruling AIADMK and DMK could elect three each given their respective strength in the Assembly. While the AIADMK has 123 members including the Speaker, the DMK has 100 MLAs, its allies the Congress and IUML seven and one seat respectively in the 234-member House.

The DMK has already announced former Tamilnadu Additional Advocate General P Wilson and M Shanmugam, the general secretary of its trade union wing, the Labour Progressive Front, as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls.

In the AIADMK camp, the names of senior leader K P Munusamy and party veteran Tamil Magan Hussain are doing the rounds for the Rajya Sabha polls. The ruling party has assured one RS seat to its ally, the PMK, in a pre-poll pact.