The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Sunday became the first major political party in the state to finalise its candidates after it released the list for the 21 constituencies it is contesting in the coming Lok Sabha election. The list, which was drawn up after interviewing prospective candidates over the last three days, included members of the Karunanidhi family, actors, and a host of newcomers.

Former Union minister Dayanidhi Maran, the grandnephew who famously fell out with party president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, is contesting from Central Chennai constituency again, while debutant M K Azhagiri, Karunanidhi’s elder son is the candidate from Madurai. Rumours of Azhagiri’s daughter Kayalvizhi contesting from Kanyakumari were put to rest after J Helen Davidson was announced as the candidate for the seat.

Union ministers T R Baalu and A Raja shifted constituencies due to changes after delimitation. Baalu has shifted from South Madras to neighbouring Sriperumbudur, where a sizable chunk of his votebank has shifted after the redrawing of constituencies. Raja’s Perambalur constituency was taken off the reserved list, prompting him to move to the reserved Nilgiris seat held for years by R Prabhu of the Congress. While Minister of State S S Palanimanickam is set to contest from Thanjavur again, his Cabinet colleagues Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, V Radhika Selvi, S Regupathy and K Venkatapathy did not figure in the list.

DMK organising secretary and spokesperson T K S Elangovan replaced senior MP and trade union leader C Kuppusamy, a four-time winner, in the North Chennai seat. Elangovan, who will be fighting his first election, will face the CPI in the constituency dominated by working class voters.

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