Congress candidates for Pondy announced

The Congress party announced candidates for the 16 seats that the party is contesting in Pondicherry for the upcoming assembly elections. The prominent among those whose candidancy was announced include Pondicherry chief minister N Rangaswamy from Thattanchavady, former chief minister V Vaithilingam from Nettapakam, Agriculture Minister A Namassivayam from Oulgaret, and Welfare Minister M Chandirakasu from Nedungadu. Malladi Krishna Rao who recently joined the party will be the parties candidate from Yanam. The Congress is contesting 16 out of the 30 seats as part of DPA alliance his election. Their other major partner, the DMK, has also announced its candidates for the 11 seats that it was alloted.

Jayalalitha files nomination

TN Chief Minister Jayalalitha has filed her nomination papers from the Andipatti constituency. She presented her nomination papers to the District Backward Class Welfare Officer at the Collectorate. Among those present at the time of the filing include her close friend and associate Sasikala, former MP of Theni TTK Dinakaran, and PWD minister O Pannerselvam. Jayalalitha also declared assest to the tune of about 25 crores. Andipatti assembly constituency falls in the Theni district, a strong hold of the ADMK. In fact, Andipatti was earlier represented by ADMK founder MG Ramachadran (MGR). It may be recollected that DMK has fielded distributor Seeman, a native of Theni district, to take on Jayalalitha. Given the absense of any strong anti-incumbency wave against the ADMK government, one would expect Jayalalitha to emerge victories from this constituency.