Madurai: For the first time since the party was founded in 1972,
AIADMK will field its candidates in all the 10 constituencies in Madurai district for the May 16 assembly election. In 2011, AIADMK contested in six seats and allotted four constituencies to its allies.
In the 14th assembly election, the AIADMK and its allies won in all the 10 constituencies. While CPM won in Madurai South, DMDK won in Madurai Central and Thiruparankundram and AIFB in Usilampatti.
On Monday, AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa released the list of party candidates for 227 assembly constituencies, including Melur, Madurai East, Sholavandan (SC), Madurai North, Madurai South, Madurai Central, Madurai West, Thiruparankundram, Thirumangalam and Usilampatti.
Interestingly, except co-operation minister Sellur K Raju, the rest of the sitting MLAs in Madurai were denied tickets in this election. Instead, she had chosen new faces who are holding party posts - from area secretary to district secretaries - with better education qualifications.
For instance, Melur constituency candidate P Periyapullan alias Selva is the panchayat union president of Valayapatti and a B.SC graduate. Similarly, Madurai South candidate S Saravanan is a councillor from ward 73 of the Madurai Municipal Corporation and an M.Tech holder.
J Jalayalithaa Peravai secretary and revenue minister R B Udhayakumar is contesting from Thirumangalam constituency. A triple degree holder, Udhayakumar has been shifted from Sattur constituency.
AIADMK has allotted the remaining seven constituencies to its allies - Indian Republic Party, Manithaneya Jananayaga Katchi, Samathuva Makkal Katchi and others.