Southern battle: Tamil Nadu, Kerala go to polls

CHENNAI: Over 40 millions voters in Tamil Nadu will cast their ballots today, to decide the future of the prosperous state in South India.After a high-voltage campaign that ended on Monday, polling falls on the eve of the Tamil New Year, a day that would decide the political fates of South Indian heavyweights such as M Karunanidhi, leader of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and former actress J Jayalalitha, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AADMK) supremo.“A cocktail of local, national and state level issues will feature in this election prominently.

“And it will be an important one, as it will send a political message, especially on corruption that had been the mainstay of the political discourse this time,” GVL Narasimha Rao, a political analyst and head of Development and Research Services told Bernama.

It is one of the hotly contested elections in decades, say political watchers, as the election is clouded with high-profile corruption cases plaguing the ruling DMK party.Top DMK leaders had been linked to the controversial mobile phone licensing or popularly known as the 2G scam that had sent one of the party’s well-known faces and former minister to jail.About 2,773 candidates are vying for the 234 seats in the 14th Legislative Assembly election.

The 83-year-old wheel-chair-bound Karunanidhi himself is contesting for the 12th time in the assembly polls, having won in the last 11 contests since 1957.He would be contesting in his native Tiruvarur today, while his arch foe Jayalalitha or fondly called as “Amma” would be challenging in Srirangam.Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) founder Vijayakanth, actor-cum-politician, is another candidate in the limelight in Tamil Nadu, since his entry into politics in 2005. He would be contesting Rishivandiyam.

Politicians had been wooing voters with freebies ranging from goat, cheap rice to laptops for students, and electric cookers and blenders for housewives.But the results would only be known on May 13.Today, neighbouring left party-controlled Kerala is also holding its 13th legislative assembly election, where voters would cast their votes in 140 constituencies.Incumbent VS Achuthanandan, the 87-year-old Communist Party of India (Marxist) veteran, currently Kerala chief minister, is also in the fray.Union territory Puducherry is going to assembly polls today as well.


Source : Bernama