Tamilnadu’s late Chief Minister and AIADMK supreme J Jayalalitha's niece Deepa Jayakumar on Thursday announced that she would contest the April 12 by poll for the RK Nagar Assembly constituency which was represented by her aunt. Her announcement came hours after the Election Commission of India declared the by poll for the RK Nagar seat for which the filing of nomination begins on March 16. But today Deepa had filed the nominations and before that she had been to Jayalalitha’s memorial place and had got her blessings.

The by-election will be crucial for all the political parties in the state particularly for the two factions of AIADMK led by General Secretary VK Sasikala, former chief minister O Panneerselvam and Deepa Jayakumar, as it is the first election to be held after the death of Jayalalitha.

Deepa who has floated 'MGR Amma Deepa Peravai' said "I am confident that people of RK Nagar will support me in the same way they supported Amma. I will win with a huge margin” and the by poll will be the first litmus test for the Edappadi K Palaniswami government in Tamil Nadu, which had narrowly won the trust motion last month. With Deepa and Panneerselvam staking claim for the political legacy of Jayalalitha, the lot is at stake for Sasikala's camp, led by her nephew and deputy party general secretary TTV Dinakaran and Chief Minister Palaniswami to ensure the party's victory to establish them as the 'real' AIADMK.

Sources in OPS camp said that they are likely to name the party's presidium chairman E Madhusudanan, an MGR-era politician and staunch loyalist of Jayalalitha, as the candidate for the RK Nagar seat which he had represented. "Madhusudanan being a local man was well known across the constituency as a loyalist of Amma. He will be a winning candidate," said a senior leader in the OPS camp. However, he said that no final decision was taken on the candidate. When asked whether he would contest the poll, he did not dismiss it but added that the candidate will be decided by the Parliamentary Board.