TIRUCHY: Doctors galore in the TN political theatre this time. Almost all major political parties in Tamil Nadu have fielded practising medical professionals to contest in Lok Sabha polls. The number of doctors-turned-contestants from major parties is 21 this time. Besides, there are 10 other doctorate degree holders, raising the number of candidates with the ‘Dr’ prefix to 31.
Interestingly, the party started by a doctor, PMK, has the highest percentage of ‘Dr’ nominees with four of its seven candidates having the title. Apart from Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, who is seeking a re-election from Dharmapuri, A Vaithilingam (Sriperumbudur) and R Govindasamy (Cuddalore) are medical doctors, while the Chennai South nominee Sam Paul is a PhD holder.
DMK, which is contesting in 20 seats, has fielded three doctors: Kalanidhi Veersamy (Chennai North), S Senthil Kumar (Dharmapuri) and D Gowtham Sigamani (Kallakurichi). AIADMK, which is also contesting in 20 seats, has fielded two doctors: P Venugopal (Tiruvallur) and J Jayavardhan (Chennai South).
One among the four candidates of the DMDK is a doctor - V Elangovan, while K Krishnasamy, leader of Puthiya Thamizhagam, contesting from Tenkasi in the AIADMK alliance is also a doctor. BJP state president Thamizisai Soundarrajan, contesting in Thoothukkudi seat is a doctor. Congress has fielded two doctors - MK Vishnu Prasad at Arani and A Chellakumar at Krishnagiri constituency. Actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Neethi Maiam has fielded three doctors - M Logarangan at Thiruvallur, S Sudhakar at Dindigul and MAS Subramanian at Puducherry.
Seeman’s Naam Tamizhar Katchi has fielded four doctors. Of the two are dentists and one is a veterinarian. Ramesh Babu (Thiruvannamalai) and Karthikeyan (Chennai Central) are dentists. NTK’s Karur candidate Karuppaiah is a doctor and Namakkal candidate Baskar is a veterinary doctor.
Welcoming more educated people, particularly doctors, entering the poll fray, GR Ravindranath, general secretary, Doctors Association for Social Equality, told Express: “It is a good sign that many doctors, engineers, advocates and scholars are entering into politics. If we look at the list of candidates some four decades ago, there was no such situation. Since the State had been improving in educational sector, especially in higher education, it get reflected in the list of candidates.” He further said, “Sending educated people into the Parliament is not enough. They should stand by the people by making medical education and healthcare accessible to more people.”
Apart from this, a total of 10 candidates are PhD holders, who could also be called as doctors. VCK’s two candidates - party leader Thol Thirumavalavan (Chidambaram) and general secretary D Ravikumar (Villupuram) are PhD scholars. Similarly, AIADMK’s Karur candidate M Thambidurai is also a PhD holder.
DMK’s South Chennai candidate T Sumathy alias Thamizachi Thangapandian and Arakkonam candidate S Jagathrakshakan have PhD degrees. In addition, AMMK’s Chidambaram candidate A Ilavarasan and Esakki Subaya are also doctorate degree holders. Congress Tiruvallur candidate K Jayakumar and Naam Tamizhar Katchi’s Madurai candidate Pandiyammal are PhD holders. Total Number of doctors contesting as independent candidates would be known only after the scrutiny of nomination papers is over.