AMN /
For the 234 seat in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, 3785 candidates are in the electoral fray, including 320 women. 338 people withdrew from the race till yesterday, the last day of withdrawal of the papers. Meanwhile, 300 companies of central paramilitary forces including the BSF, CRPF, SSB and ITBP start arriving various parts of the state from today for security arrangements, as informed by the state chief electoral officer Rajesh Lakhoni.
The number of polling booths have also been increased by about 700, taking the total to 66,001 in view of the increase in the number of voters. In the Chennai’s RK Nagar constituency where Chief Minister and the AIADMK supremo J.Jayalalithaa is seeking re-election, 44 candidates are contesting against her including a DMK greenhorn and the VCK’s educationist, and all three prominent party candidates are women.
In DMK chief M.Karunanidhi’s home constituency of Tiruvarur, a total of 15 candidates are in the fray. The DMDK chief Vijayakanth is taking on 24 other contestants in Ulundurpet seat where he contests for the first time. In Kattumannarkoil where the VCK leader Thol.Thirumavalavan is contesting, ten candidates are in the race. In Pennagaram seat, 15 are in the race including the PMK leader Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss.
The BJP state chief Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan faces her first ever litmus test in Chennai Virugambakkam seat against 19 other candidates. Chennai Kolathur is another star constituency where 23 people take on the DMK treasurer MK Stalin.