DMK to contest 164 seats, Congress 28. Stalin-led ruling party fields over 60 first-timers

Chennai: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) unveiled its candidate list for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, along with its constituency allocation for alliance parties, Saturday.

Among 164 DMK candidates, 60 are first-time faces—including party union secretaries, lawyers, engineers, and doctors, among other professionals—who will contest the upcoming elections. The list features 18 women candidates.

As many as 11 parties are contesting under the ‘rising sun’ symbol.

Stalin announced O. Panneerselvam, former Chief Minister from AIADMK who recently joined DMK, will contest the Bodinayakkanur seat, Mahesh the Kanyakumari seat, Wahab the Palayamkottai seat, and K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran the Aruppukottai seat.

After visiting the Karunanidhi memorial in Chennai, M.K. Stalin told the media, “Our alliance candidates will also win a landslide victory. We took an oath at the Karunanidhi Memorial for that victory.”

He said that undoubtedly, the assembly elections this time are between Tamil Nadu and Delhi.

Stating that the party has given recognition to younger members this time, Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin told ANI, “This time, more young people have been given the opportunity to contest elections so that more young people enter politics, and those who have been given the opportunity have confidence in this party. I am confident that all our candidates will connect with the people and win this time.”

“I repeat that since the BJP has been in power at the Centre, the NEET exam has come to Tamil Nadu, and Tamil Nadu has not received any exemption. Our aim is to scrap the NEET exam,” he said.

The inclusion of more youngsters in the candidate list is being seen as an attempt to counter the youth vote bank of actor-turned-politician Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). Another motivation is “to counter the nepotism accusations against the DMK by giving chances to newcomers and ground-level workers,” said political analyst Arun Kumar.

“DMK has fielded more than one-third newcomers in the candidate list. These include a few party cadres who have been actively working with the party for a few years now. Some of these candidates have made a strong presence on social media and also engaged in grassroots-level work,” he added.

He noted that five Muslim candidates have also been included in the candidate list, marking a higher social inclusion and minority representation than the AIADMK.

“Though the number of minority candidates may be less than the actual population representation, it is comparatively better than the AIADMK. The number of women candidates also increased compared to 2021, but there is less representation in Chennai.

The inclusion of professionals is a strategy to appeal to the educated masses,” said Arun Kumar.

Congress constituencies in the DMK-led alliance include Ponneri, Sriperumbudur, Sholingur, Udhagamandalam, Erode East, Aranthangi, Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai, Karaikudi, Sivakasi, Thiruvadanai, Srivaikuntam, Nanguneri, Velachery, and Attur Krishnagiri, among others.

The party appeared to be in an internal conflict over the constituency selection.

On Friday, Congress MP S. Jothimani publicly criticised the Congress party’s handling of constituency selection within the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), accusing the leadership of a complete lack of transparency and a “seat-selling” approach that compromised the party’s interests.

In a strongly worded post on X, Jothimani expressed deep dissatisfaction with the Congress’s internal process for seat selection. “There is absolutely no transparency…Our view that constituency selection should be done only after transparency and extensive discussion has not been accepted by the responsible leaders. Everything happened in a highly secretive manner. The welfare of the Congress party has been entirely compromised.”

“It is heartbreaking to see a few individuals, who haven’t even bothered to pluck a single feather from the decades-long hard work of genuine Congress party workers like us for the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, now selling it off.”

She also said one cannot remain silent in the face of this terrible situation without raising questions, stating that the sentiments and labour of lakhs of workers are what make the party.

“We can discuss this in detail once the list is released. If candidate selection is also going to happen with this same selling approach, no one can save the Congress party in Tamil Nadu,” she added.

Her remarks came amid broader unease within the DMK alliance over the seat-sharing.

Smaller, long-standing allies, such as the CPI and CPI(M), each getting five seats—one less seat for both in 2021—also expressed quiet dissatisfaction. The reduction accommodates newer entrants, such as the DMDK, which was allotted 10 seats despite its smaller base.