AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami campaigned at Nanganallur in Chennai on Friday. | Photo credit: Special arrangement
The AIADMK on Friday released its second list of 127 candidates for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. So far, the party has nominated 150 candidates, including 23 on the first list.
According to the second list released by party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, 25 sitting MLAs were retained and 10 others dropped. There were also 16 female candidates on the list. Among those who did not figure in the list were former ministers V Saroja, VM Rajalakshmi, Vaigaichelvan and ‘Ma Foi’ K Pandiarajan, all of whom lost in the 2021 elections.
Ex-ministers on the list
Former ministers who made it to the list included N. Thalavai Sundaram, MC Sampath, Be. Vee. Ramanah, V. Somasundaram, P. Balakrishna Reddy, Mukkur N. Subramanian, MSM Anandan, Pollachi V. Jayaraman, SP Shanmuganathan and ST Chellapandian. The lone AIADMK legislator in the Kancheepuram-Tiruvallur-Chengalpattu-Chennai belt, Maragatham Kumaravel, was renominated for Madurantakam.
An interesting feature of the list was the inclusion of P. Saravanan, who contested on the AIADMK-led front in Madurai (North) in 2021. This time too he tries his luck from the same seat. Likewise, I. Mahendran, who was selected as a Dravidian major, ran in 2021 as a candidate of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK), now an ally of the AIADMK.
EPS attacked Stalin
Later in the day, Mr. Palaniswami criticized DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin for not being able to complete the process of identifying constituencies for components of the DMK-led front.
Addressing a rally at MGR Salai in Nanganallur of Alandur Assembly constituency, Mr. Palaniswami recalled that Mr. Stalin would claim that his coalition was “strong”. However, the seat-sharing process has not yet been completed in the DMK camp despite the talks going on for 25 days. On the other hand, “we only talked for four days and closed them quickly,” he noted.
Referring to the ministers’ response to his criticism that the AIADMK was “not pressuring” its allies to field candidates on its symbol, the AIADMK leader said the ministers could not, however, respond to his point.
Mr. Palaniswami criticized DMK allies for “not raising the issue of people” in the Assembly. Nevertheless, such allies got a smaller number of seats this time. But once the elections are over, the AIADMK allies will highlight the issues to the public. “This is our ally dharma,” he clarified.
Pointing out that he has faced successive electoral setbacks, the AIADMK chief recalled that when M. Karunanidhi was the DMK president, his party could not even get the Leader of the Opposition status.
Remarks against Vijay
Later, while attending another event in Tambaram Assembly constituency, he alluded to the Karur stampede in which 41 people died when he witnessed a rally addressed by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam founder Vijay. He said those who want to condole the death of individuals usually visit the families of the deceased. But the man invited to his place the families of those who died when they went out and followed him.
“That is cinematography. This can be observed in feature films. We can watch films and enjoy them. But we have to leave them as they are. Real life is different from reel life,” said Mr. Palaniswami, urging the youth to reflect on the transience of what is shown in films.
Published – 28 March 2026 0:56 IST
