COIMBATORE: The ruling DMK, which on Saturday released the list of candidates for the Tamil Nadu assembly election, is fielding its candidates in seven out 10 constituencies in Coimbatore district and allocated three seats to its allies – two to Congress and one to Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KMDK). The highlight of the DMK candidates’ list for Coimbatore district is the name of former minister V Senthil Balaji who will be contesting from Coimbatore South assembly constituency, leaving his Karur turf. DMK is fielding Senthil Balaji in Coimbatore South with a hope to silence factions which worked against the party’s prospects in Coimbatore district in previous elections. In the 2021 assembly elections, DMK didn’t win any constituency in the district. The party hopes Senthil Balaji can unite factions and take care of the entire 10 assembly constituencies in the district. In Coimbatore South, Senthil Balaji will take on AIADMK’s Amman K Arjunan. Arjunan feels he will easily beat Senthil Balaji. “Senthil Balaji is afraid of defeat in Karur district. That’s why he moved to Coimbatore. But I will defeat him with a margin of more than 50,000 votes,” Arjunan said. The six other candidates of DMK in the district are: Kavitha Kalyanasundaram (Mettupalayam), Thalapathy Murugesan (Sulur), D Senthamil Selvan (Coimbatore North), NR Karthikeyan (Thondamuthur), KVKS Sabari Karthikeyan (Kinathukadavu) and Kutti alias A Suthakar (Valparai-reserved). DMK’s ally KMDK is fielding K Nithayanandan in Pollachi assembly constituency. Congress is yet to announce its candidate for Singanallur and Kavundampalayam assembly constituencies allotted to it. Meanwhile, the AIADMK is fielding its candidates, including former minister S P Velumani, in nine constituencies in the district and allocated Coimbatore North assembly constituency to BJP, which is yet to announce its candidate. The AIADMK candidates are: S P Velumani (Thondamuthur), O K Chinnaraj (Mettupalayam), VP Kandasamy (Sulur) , PRG Arunkumar (Kavundampalayam), Amman K Arjunan (Coimbatore South), K R Jayaram (Singanallur), S Dhamodaran (Kinathukadavu), Pollachi V Jayaraman (Pollachi) and Lakshmana Singh (Valparai). Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) has already announced its candidates for the ten assembly constituencies. The NTK candidates are: V Perarivalan (Coimbatore South), Narmada (Coimbatore North), Kalamani Jaganathan (Kavundampalayam), S Gopalakrishnan (Mettupalayam), Senthil (Pollachi), Banupriya (Kinathukadavu), Rajabunisha Abdulgani (Thondamuthur), Rajasekar (Sulur), P Umadevi Periyandi (Valparai) and Nehruji (Singanallur).
