AIADMK to issue applications for poll tickets from Feb 24

Application forms will be given from February 24 to March 5 at the party headquarters, AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said in a statement. 

As per instructions issued by the party, applicants can collect their forms between 10 am and 5 pm from the party headquarters. The forms should be filled with the details asked for along with a fee, the statement said. The fee for aspiring candidates for Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu will be Rs 15,000, for Puducherry the fee will be Rs 5,000 and Rs 2,000 for Kerala Assembly polls. 

The AIADMK will be accepting the nomination for all 234 constituencies in the state, the statement added. 

According to AIADMK party sources, top political leaders had decided that the party should contest around 170 tickets leaving around 75 seats for the alliance partners PMK, BJP and DMDK, sources said. The seat-sharing discussion with PMK is almost done and will be settled within this month. In case of BJP, the AIADMK leaders will soon meet Union Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda to finalise the seat-sharing. 

The ruling AIADMK is the first party to hit the campaign trail and the first to announce the invitation of nomination papers from party workers. This is Amma (Jayalalithaa) style of working and we will have a strategic lead over the arch-rival DMK in selecting the AIADMK candidates, party sources said. 

It may be noted that the ruling AIADMK has submitted a memorandum to the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora seeking early elections by the month of April against the schedule of May. The AIADMK has explained that the month of May will pose humid hot conditions for the voters in TN. The opposition party DMK had demanded the election commission to rectify the mistakes in voters rolls ahead of the Assembly polls.