The Congress leadership on Saturday night released the list of candidates for 21 of the 25 Assembly constituencies allotted to it by the DMK and for the Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency.
According to the announcement made by AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, V. Vijayakumar alias Vijay Vasanth, son of H. Vasanthakumar whose death caused the vacancy, is the candidate for the Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha byelection.
The names of the candidates for four Assembly constituencies, including Vilavancode, a seat the party holds, have been withheld after protests at the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) headquarters.
R. Mohan Kumaramangalam, son of late Union Minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, is the candidate for Omalur. Thirumagan Evera, son of former TNCC president E.V.K.S. Elangovan, has been fielded in Erode (East). Dalit leader K. Selvaperunthagai is the candidate for Sriperumbudur (reserved). Mayura S. Jayakumar will enter the fray in Coimbatore South against Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder and actor Kamal Haasan. The seat has been allotted to the BJP in the AIADMK-led alliance.
Though the Congress won three Assembly constituencies in Kanniyakumari district in 2016, the candidate for Killiyoor alone has been announced. The sitting MLA, S. Rajeshkumar, has been renominated.
The candidates for Colachel (sitting MLA J.G. Prince) and Vilavancode (sitting MLA S. Vijayadharani) are yet to be announced.
Rubi Manoharan is the candidate for Nanguneri. Vasanthakumar had won from the constituency and resigned to contest from Kanniyakumari in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
In Tenkasi, the party has fielded S. Palani Nadar. In Srivaikundam, the candidate is Urvasi S. Amirtharaj, son of late Congress MLA Selvaraj.
R.M. Karumanickam is entering the contest in Thiruvadanai and A.M.G.C. Ashokan in Sivakasi. P.S.W. Madhava Rao is the candidate for Srivilliputhur (reserved) and T. Ravichandran has been put up in Melur, Madurai.
The party has fielded S.T. Ramachandran, son of party MP Su. Thirunavukkarasar, in Aranthangi and S. Mangudi in Karaikudi. The candidate for Virudhachalam is M.R.R. Radhakrishnan and K. Thennarasu is the candidate for Udumalaipettai. The sitting MLA, R. Ganesh, is re-entering the fray in Udhagamandalam and K.I. Manirathnam in Kallakurichi (reserved).
J.S. Arumugam will contest from Uthangarai (reserved) and A.M. Munirathanam, who recently rejoined the Congress, from Sholinghur. Durai Chandrasekar has been fielded in Ponneri (reserved).
Protests held
Earlier in the day, Satyamurthy Bhavan, the headquarters of the TNCC here, witnessed protests by party workers who alleged that tickets had been given to those who joined the party recently or to those with deep pockets.
“Tickets are sold for money,” Congress MP M.K. Vishnuprasad, who staged the protest at the headquarters, said.
Mr. Vishnuprasad gave up the protests after TNCC president K.S. Alagiri held talks with him.
Jothimani, another Congress MP, also came out in support of the protesters, adding that she was aware of the sentiments of the workers. “There is no transparency in selection of constituencies and candidates. There are a lot of mistakes. I questioned them, but there is no response,” she tweeted.
