The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) announced its candidates on Wednesday, March 20, for 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on April 19 as part of the first phase of the polls. The DMK is contesting in 21 of the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies with its allies Congress (9), VCK (2), CPI (2), CPI(M)(2), MDMK(1), IUML(1) and KMDK(1) making up the total 39 seats in the state.
Among the 21 candidates announced by party chief MK Stalin, 11 are new faces. A few of the incumbent MPs, who were elected during the 2019 Lok Sabha election, will retain their respective seats in the 2024 polls. Three of the 21 candidates are women. 19 of the total candidates announced are graduates, and 12 candidates have completed their post-graduate degrees. Two candidates practise medicine, six candidates are lawyers and two candidates are Ph.D. scholars.
Former Tamil Nadu minister K Ponmudy’s son and Kallakurichi MP Gowtham Sigamani and Dharmapuri MP Dr S Senthilkumar were among those who were expected to get a ticket but missed out on the chance.
Here is the list of the incumbent MPs retained by DMK:
>Kalanidhi Veerasamy- North Chennai
>Sumathi Thangapandian (Thamizhachi Thangapandian) - South Chennai
>Dhayanidhi Maran- Central Chennai
>TR Baalu- Sriperumbudur
>S Jagathrakshakan - Arakkonam
>Kathir Anand - Vellore
>A Raja- Nilgiris
>Kanimozhi Karunanidhi - Thoothukudi
>CN Annadurai - Thiruvannamalai
> G Selvam - Kancheepuram
Here is the list of new candidates:
>R Mani - Dharmapuri
>MS Dharanivendhan - Arani
>K Malaiyarasan - Kallakurichi
>Selvaganapathy - Salem
>KE Prakash - Erode
>Ganapathy Pa Rajkumar - Coimbatore
>K Easwarasamy - Pollachi
>Arun Nehru - Perambalur
>Sa Murasoli - Thanjavur
>Thangathamizhselvan - Theni
>Rani Srikumar - Tenkasi
Among the new faces, Arun Nehru is the son of Tamil Nadu minister KN Nehru. The DMK will contest five seats that were contested by its alliance parties in 2019. These are Arani, Erode, Coimbatore, Theni and Perambalur. Congress contested in Arani and Theni while Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate PR Natarajan secured victory in Coimbatore. Perambalur was contested by the Indhiya Jananayaka Katchi, which re-joined the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance for 2024. Erode was contested by Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), which is now contesting in Tiruchirapalli.
During the 2019 general election, the DMK alliance won 38 of 39 seats. AIADMK won its lone seat in Theni constituency, which was contested by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam’s son P Raveendranath.