DMK to contest in 165 seats out of 200 in Chennai Corporation

The ruling DMK has announced candidates for Chennai Corporation on the penultimate day of filing of nominations for the February 19 urban local body elections. Late on Thursday night, DMK general secretary Duraimurugan released the candidate list for 153 wards.

A few days ago, the party had announced candidates for eleven wards in the city corporation. The twelfth list comprised candidates for Kolathur, Harbour, Egmore, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, Ambattur, Villivakkam, Tiruvottriyur, Madhavaram, Perambur, RK Nagar, Royapuram, Chepauk, Anna Nagar, Thousand Lights, Mylapore, T Nagar, Virugambakkam, Saidapet, Velachery, Maduravoyal and Sholinganallur areas of the four party districts in the state capital.

Going by the recent list and the one released a couple of days ago, the DMK would be fielding candidates in 165 of the 200 wards in Chennai Corporation and apportioning the rest to allies Congress, VCK and Left parties among others.

The candidate list consisted of the names of a couple of women candidates who were speculated to be frontrunners for the prestigious Mayor post, reserved for women hailing from scheduled caste community. One Kavitha Narayanan in Madhavaram Assembly constituency, who was speculated to be one of the favourites for the Mayor seat, has been fielded in Ward 17.

Significantly, the ruling party changed a councillor candidate in barely five minutes after releasing the comprehensive list. The party replaced one Vijayabalan with K Raju as candidate for Ward 155 of Maduravoyal constituency of Chennai South DMK party district.