M Karunanidhi to fight polls from Tiruvarur again

DMK chief M. Karunanidhi, in his 13th bid to enter the state Assembly and sixth attempt to become chief minister, will contest from his native Tiruvarur again.

The 92-year-old DMK leader, who has never been defeated in an election, will file his nomination papers in Tiruvarur and address a public meeting on April 25, the party has announced.

The party also released his poll campaign schedule from April 23 from Saidapet, where he won in 1967 and 1971, when DMK formed the government.

The DMK leader has contested in the same constituency twice going by his previous record from 1967. Besides, winning from Saidapet twice, Mr Karunanidhi was elected from Anna Nagar twice in 1977 and 1980 before shifting to Harbour, where he won in 1989 and 1991. In 1996, 2001 and 2006, he entered the Assembly from Chepauk and shifted to Tiruvarur in 2011. Earlier, he won from Kulithalai in 1957 and Thanjavur in 1962.

He did not join the race in 1984 as he was a member of the Legislative Council, which was later abolished.

In 2011, despite the DMK losing power and failing to get the Opposition status, Mr Karunanidhi secured 1,09,014 votes in Tiruvarur and won by a margin of over 50,000 votes. He garnered 62.96 per cent of votes in the constituency, while the AIADMK candidate polled only 33.94 per cent, despite the support of Left parties which have strong roots in the area.

In the 2014 Parliament elections, when the DMK was routed and did not win a single Lok Sabha seat, the party polled 1,800 more votes than the AIADMK.

Besides public meetings, he will address people from his specially-designed vehicle at several places. After his meeting at Saidapet, he would address a meeting from his van at Marakkanam, besides addressing another public meeting in Puducherry the same day.

Before moving to Tiruvarur, he will address public meetings at Cuddalore and Mayiladuthurai and two roadside meetings at Chidambaram and Seerkazhi on April 24 He will tour Thanjavur and Tiruchi on April 26 and 27.

He will cover northern districts of Villupuram and Kanchipuram on April 28 and return home.

He will leave for Tirunelveli by train on May 1 and extensively cover the district, besides Virudhunagar, Tuticorin and Madurai on May 2 and 3.