Kanchi with unfulfilled promises, to see fight between Dravidian majors

CHENNAI: Called the temple district Kancheepuram Lok Sabha constituency formed in 1951 has nearly 18 lakh electorate. However, the people in Kancheepuram are unhappy with the government on various issues and claim whoever comes to rule there is no development in the seat.

The oldest constituency so far has faced 17 elections. Assembly segments like Chengalpattu, Thiruporur, Cheyyur, Madurantakam, Uthiramerur and Kancheepuram come under the constituency. There is always a tough fight between the AIADMK and DMK here while the AIADMK has won six times, the DMK has won four times, Congress won three times and PMK two times.

The common issue the people of this constituency face is the lack of EMU facilities between Kancheepuram-Chennai Beach. Over the years the political parties were promising the Kancheepuram residents that train connectivity from Kancheeepuram to Chennai Beach would be increased. However even after the third lane work was completed the number of EMUs to Kancheepuram was not increased.

Murugan, a resident of Kancheepuram said, “During the peak hours the people are forced to travel on footboard in the EMU. Every day thousands of people would be travelling to the city for various works, but there is no proper train facility.” The commuters said that the six EMU trains, which were cancelled a year ago are yet to resume again.

Nearly, 15 years ago, Maduranthagam railway station was one of the important stations, as most of the Express trains would stop there and people found it much useful. Now the trains are not stopping in Maduranthagam and the station is in bad shape.

The farmers in the constituency are also facing various issues. In Uthiramerur village, the farmers have been demanding a paddy procurement center for a long time but the government officials are not giving a proper response for them. Durga, a farmer said, “During every election the political party leaders would visit us and would promise that the procurement centre would be opened soon but they failed to keep their promise.

Villagers in and around Parandur, selected for a new greenfield airport, are angry with the Centre and state and are planning to boycott the elections. The villagers have been protesting for more than 600 days and they want the government to change the location of the airport.

With the plan to set up a fishing harbour in Cheyyur pending for a long time the fishermen in the constituency are also unhappy. The DMK and AIADMK during every election would promise the fishermen and villagers of Cheyyur that a fishing harbour would be constructed for them. However, there are no signs of the harbour work starting, said the villagers. They claimed that Cheyyur is always ignored by the government. The villagers demanded a government college there to help their children continue higher studies.

While the AIADMK holds the upper hand in Kancheepuram, it is believed that there will be a close fight between the DMK and AIADMK in the upcoming election.

In this election, G Selvam contesting the election for DMK, Rajasekar for AIADMK, Jothi Venkatesh for PMK and Santhosh Kumar for NTK.

Selvam contested in 2014 and 2019 elections and managed to clinch victory in 2019.

Rajasekar is contesting for the first time and it is expected that he will be a worthy opponent for Selvam.