Chennai, March 29 With the opposition AIADMK retaining a majority of the Assembly constituencies in the Chennai district, the party will face the ruling DMK in a direct contest in as many as 13 out of 16 seats.
AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami fielded a range of former state ministers, senior party members, and women to challenge the DMK in Chennai, which is considered the DMK's stronghold.
Former state ministers B Valarmathy and Gokula Indira will contest against DMK's sitting MLA N Ezhilan, and party functionary N Chitrarasu, in Thousand Lights and Anna Nagar constituencies, respectively.
Porkodi, the widow of slain BSP leader Armstrong, has been fielded from Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, where she will compete against K S Ravichandran of the DMK in this reserved constituency.
Senior party members P Santhanakrishnan and Aadhi Rajaram will directly challenge Chief Minister M K Stalin and his Deputy Udhayanidhi in Kolathur and Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituencies, respectively.
Heavyweight D Jayakumar, along with senior AIADMK functionaries K P Kandan, Royapuram R Mano, and Virugai V N Ravi, are also contesting from other constituencies.
The DMK has renominated its sitting MLAs John Ebenezer (Dr Radakrishnan Nagar), Shekar R D (Perambur), A V M Prabhakara Raja (Virugambakkam), along with its Ministers P K Sekar Babu (Harbour) and Ma Subramanian (Saidapet).
The AIADMK is contesting from 13 constituencies in Chennai and has allocated Mylapore, Saidapet, and Perambur to its allies, namely the BJP, AMMK, and PMK.
Although former film director Seeman's Naam Tamilar Katchi is also in the fray, the presence of Vijay-led TVK will make the election a quadrilateral contest.
The DMK is seeking re-election from 15 out of 16 constituencies that it had won in the 2021 Assembly election, although it has fielded new faces this time.