Chennai, Jun 27 (IANS): DMK Deputy General Secretary Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan and former Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker R. Avudiappu are the front runners for two of the three vacant Rajya Sabha seats from the state.
A senior leader of the DMK, who is also a minister in the M.K. Stalin cabinet told IANS on conditions of anonymity, "Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan and R. Avadiappu are senior leaders of the party and their names are almost finalized. In fact, the race is for the third seat which has fallen vacant and the party is seriously contemplating and shortlisting the name for this seat also."
The Election Commission is expected to notify for the three vacant seats in July and the race for the party ticket has already begun. While both Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan and Avudiappu are almost finalized, there is a big race for the third seat with former minister Sureshrajan and former MLA, A. Austin the main contenders.
The elections to the Rajya Sabha (RS) have become necessary after the passing away of AIADMK MP A. Mohammedjan and resignation of two AIADMK leaders, K.P. Munusamy and R. Vaithilingam from the RS after being elected to the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
The DMK has a strength of 133 legislators in the Tamil Nadu Assembly and also 26 MLA'S of its allies which are enough to win all the three vacant seats by the party nominees. The by-elections will increase the strength of the DMK in RS to 10 and that of the AIADMK will be reduced to 6.
Several party district secretaries who were not given a ticket to contest the Assembly elections are eyeing the RS seat and have already started lobbying with the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, senior party leader S. Duraimurugan, Youth wing secretary and Stalin's son Udayanidhi Stalin and other senior party leaders.
A senior leader of the DMK told IANS that already more than 300 people have applied to the party to consider their name for the Rajya Sabha seat and the party leadership is tight-lipped on the same. He said, "Just like how we selected the members of the Stalin cabinet, the selection of the three candidates for the RS elections will also be a smooth affair. We will take into consideration region representation, caste, and religious equations before finalizing the list of candidates. Of course, party experience and grassroots experience would also be considered seriously in candidate selection."
The Commission is expected to hold separate elections for the vacancies that were notified in March and May, said sources. Mohammedjans tenure was to expire in July 2025 and the terms of R. Vaithalingam and K.P. Muniswamy in June 2022 and April 2026 respectively.
In June 2022, the tenure of three AIADMK MP's, S.R. Balasubramaniam, A. Navaneetha Krishnan, and A. Vijayakumar will come to an end and the DMK is jubilant that it would get its nominees to win these seats in the RS elections next year given its strength in the Assembly.