Dynastic politics has come to the fore in Tamil Nadu, if one goes by the many candidates chosen by political parties for the May 8 Assembly elections, who are the children of prominent politicians.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stands first in giving tickets to the relatives of senior leaders, followed by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Congress and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
The DMK has fielded 10 relatives of its leaders, the AIADMK three, the Congress two and the MDMK one. M K Stalin, son of DMK president M Karunanidhi, is seeking re-election from Thousand Lights. R Rajendran, son of senior DMK leader Veerapandi S Arumugham, is making his electoral debut, from Veerapandi in Salem District and will face his cousin and state Social Welfare Minister Vijaylakshmi Palanisamy. She is the sister of slain AIADMK leader Pulavar Sukumaran. Both Karunanidhi and Arumugham are also contesting.
Poongothai, daughter of slain DMK leader Aladi Aruna, has been given the Alankulam seat, which represented by her father, while Geetha Jeevan, daughter of N Periyasamy, is seeking election from Tuticorin. N K K P Raja, son of former DMK Minister N K K Palanisamy, is seeking election from Erode, while M R K Pannerselvam, son of late DMK leader M R Krishnamurthy, is the party's nominee for Kurinjipadi seat.
Andi Ambalam, son of former Congress MLA Andi Ambalam, is the DMK's nominee for Natham seat, previously represented by his father. He will be taking on the Tamil Nadu Transport Minister R Viswanathan.
Anbil Periyasamy, son of late Anbil Dharmalingam, considered the architect of the DMK in Tiruchirapalli district, has been named for Tiruchy I seat, while J Anbalagan, son of the late DMK leader V Jayaraman, is seeking re-election from T Nagar constituency in Chennai.
Thangam Thennarasu, son of late S Thennarasu, once the strongman of Ramanathapuram district, has been given a ticket in Auruppukottai. K Vishnu Prasad, state Youth Congress chief and son of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president M Krishnasamy, has been fielded by the Congress in Cheyyar, while former MP Era Anbarasu's son Arul Anbarasu is the party nominee in Sholingar.
AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa has also nominated Mythili, the widow of deceased AIADMK leader S Thirunavukkarassu, for Kancheepuram seat. For Gummidipoond, the candidate is K S Vijayakumar, son of AIADMK leader K Sudarsanam, who was killed by dacoits. Mythili and Vijayakumar had won the by-elections in the respective constituencies last year.
S R Vetrivelu, son of former AIADMK MLA S P Renganathan, is the party's nominee for Pennagaram seat. MDMK, which was 'opposed' to dynastic politics, has given a ticket to D R R Senguttuvan, son of D R Rajarathinam, who created history by defeating M Bakthavatsalam, the last Congress chief minister of the state in 1967. He would seek election from Poonamalee.
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