CHENNAI: North Chennai’s seven constituencies, comprising labour and middle-class electorate, always make their MLAs sweat to earn their posts. The million-odd voters have a reputation of swiftly punishing incumbents, often voting them out the very next election. Even the smallest civic issue has echoed sharply at the ballot.DMK, which swept all seats in 2021, bats this time with the scoreboard in its favour. But visible cracks, if exploited well, could hand the opposition breakthroughs. Over the past five years, DMK has flaunted the region as a crown jewel, rolling out bigticket projects: Rs 3,000-crore Asian Development Bank-funded stormwater drains, Vada Chennai Valarchi Thittam, new sewer and water lines, flyovers, youth coworking hubs, mini-stadiums, libraries, lake restoration, the Rs 1,500-crore Kodungaiyur biomining project, and a tuna harbour.
But this noise must contend with local anger over unresolved legacy issues. Sewage-mixed drinking water, patchy piped water supply, and lingering trauma from the CPCL oil leak and ammonia gas incident in Tiruvottiyur still haunt DMK.Skipper and star campaigner of DMK M K Stalin leads from Kolathur—a segment he has nurtured for 15 years with urbanisque, youth-centric development. And, minister P K Sekarbabu is expected to mount a strong show in Harbour. But some others in the line-up appear out of form.Tiruvottiyur MLA K P Shankar, younger brother of former minister K P Samy, faces heat over his absence during crises. During the 2024 LS polls, he was asked to step down from the campaign vehicle of the North Chennai MP by angry residents in Ennore, Manali and Tiruvottiyur.His younger brother K P Chokkalingam was dismissed last year from his councillor and party posts by DMK over allegations of threatening contractors for kickbacks. DMK has won here seven times, while AIADMK and its allies five times.Royapuram, too, could see a contest. An AIADMK bastion for two decades until 2021, it is now held by DMK’s ‘Idream’ R Murthy, a business baron with limited grassroots connect. Core issues—lack of cold storage and a centralised fish market at Kasimedu, and non-expansion of Ennore highway—remain unresolved.Neither AIADMK nor BJP have a strong base in North Chennai though former CM Jayalalithaa won from RK Nagar twice and AIADMK swept the seats in 2011. EPS does not have a pull among the labour-class voters of north Chennai nor the minorities. In the wake of CAA and NRC protests, which were raging in Royapuram’s Pencil Factory (known as Chennai’s Shaheen Bagh), the NDA alliance in 2021 got reduced to 20%-25% of votes in most seats, with the highest of 30% in Royapuram, and victory margins being among the widest in history.But, the DMK-AIADMK duopoly has weakened. The turf is now more fragmented, with TVK eying to exploit the vacuum. Its leader Vijay is rumoured to be candidate from Perambur. A workstation is coming up in MKB Nagar on Jawahar Street for Vijay. TVK’s entry could tighten margins, and NTK’s labour-class appeal may further split votes, adding a spoiler edge to an already layered contest.
