DMDK leader Vijayakanth has declared that he would contest from the Ulundurpet constituency in Villupuram district, a week ahead of the nominations. The PMK leader and the party’s chief ministerial candidate Anbumani Ramadoss will contest from Pennagaram and Mr. Mani will contest from Mettur.
When it was realized that the contest is on and the AIADMK general secretary Jayalalitha has changed eight candidates by bringing in three Ministers and a former Minister to take on rival candidates in the DMK and the DMDK-PWF-TMC alliance.
Sources have added that the Higher Education Minister P. Palaniappan in Papireddipatti, has been brought back to consolidate the non-Vanniyar votes to defeat the PMK in its stronghold. In Sankarapuram, Rural Village Industries Minister P. Mohan has been nominated in place of Rajasekar and the Tourism Minister S.P. Shanmuganathan was replaced by Bhuvaneswaran in Srivaikuntam.
Tamilarasi in Tiruchirpalli (East) is replaced by Vellamandi N. Natarajan has been nominated. In Kovilpatti the sitting MLA Kadambur Raju replaces Ramanujan Ganesh. In Arakkonam (Reserve), S. Ravi will replace Ko.Si. Manivannan. S.K.A. Haider Ali has been fielded at Palayamkottai by replacing Thamizhmagan Hussein.
