A possible triangular contest involving the ruling AIADMK is in the offing with the opposition DMK and AMMK on Friday announcing their candidates for the January 28 Tiruvarur bypoll.
However, the AIADMK is yet to announce their candidate.
In a statement, DMK President MK Stalin announced the candidature of Poondi K Kalaivanan and said his nominee had the support of the party’s allies, including the Congress party.
Kalaivanan is the DMK’s Tiruvarur district secretary, a powerful organisational post in the party.
Similarly, the TTV Dhinakaran-led Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) announced fielding S Kamaraj as its candidate for the bypoll, and he will take on Kalaivanan, besides the ruling AIADMK’s nominee.
Kamaraj is AMMK’s Tiruvarur district secretary.
The bypoll to Tiruvarur constituency was necessitated due to the death of former chief minister M Karunanidhi, the sitting MLA from the Assembly segment, on August 7 last year.
The election will be seen as a possible indicator of voters’ mood ahead of this year’s Lok Sabha polls, the first in the absence of the two Dravidian stalwarts, former chief ministers J Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi.
Stalin’s leadership skills will also be put to the test as a possible defeat from Karunanidhi’s home turf may hurt the principal opposition party’s image ahead of the general elections.
The AIADMK, for its part, will test its popularity in the post-Jayalalithaa era.
However, both AIADMK and DMK were handed down an upset defeat by Dhinakaran, who won the December 2017 RK Nagar bypoll as an Independent with an impressive margin.
The DMK even forefeited deposit in that election held in the constituency located in the city.
Dhinakaran had earlier exuded confidence his AMMK would win in Tiruvarur too.
Post his sidelining in AIADMK by a section of the cabinet led by chief minister K Palaniswami in 2017, Dhinakaran had floated the AMMK last year.
The Election Commission had on Monday announced the bypoll to Tiruvarur.