COIMBATORE: Coimbatore South covers a major portion of Coimbatore city corporation and several prominent residential and commercially important localities such as Race Course, Dhamu Nagar, Oppanakkara Street and Big Bazaar Street. The seat favored AIADMK twice and its ally BJP once in the three state polls held after its creation following the 2008 delimitation. This year, DMK is fielding former minister V Senthilbalaji against AIADMK’s Amman K Arjunan, who was elected from the seat in the 2016 election with a winning margin of more than 17,000 votes. While the seat went to AIADMK ally BJP’s Vanathi Srinivasan in the 2021 election, the winning margin had shrunk to 1,728 votes. Amman K Arjunan said he is confident about winning by a margin of 50,000 votes this time.For Senthilbalaji, it’s a fight far away from his home constituency Karur, where he won comfortably in the 2021, 2011 and 2006 elections. But he successfully contested in Aravakurichi constituency in the 2016 election on AIADMK ticket and the 2019 bypoll on DMK ticket. Fielding him in Coimbatore South could be seen as part of the party’s broader strategy to strengthen its position across the district. DMK seems to be counting on minority support, especially from the constituency’s sizeable Muslim population, which party workers believe would largely back the party rather than AIADMK-led NDA. Another deciding factor would be the votes of thousands of goldsmiths and jewellery workers who have been seeking a dedicated jewellery park for about 15 years. Although AIADMK had promised such a project in its constituency manifesto, it failed to announce the project during its tenure. Now that Stalin has laid foundation stone for a jewellery park, DMK is hoping that the goldsmiths and their families would back the party.AIADMK is, meanwhile, banking on its development works, including rejuvenation and revamping of water bodies and recreational facilities, to translate into votes.The entry of TVK is likely to play a role in determining the winner. The party believes that it could attract minority votes and young voters, influencing the outcome.
