- O Panneerselvam has been named the DMK candidate for the Bodinayakkanur Assembly constituency
- OPS was with the AIADMK for nearly 50 years
- Voting for the 234 Assembly seats in the state will be held on April 23. Counting will take place on May 4.
For people in Tamil Nadu's Bodinayakkanur Assembly constituency, the candidate on the ballot will still be the one they have chosen three consecutive times since 2011. This time, however, he will be asking them to vote for his former arch-rivals.
O Panneerselvam, a J Jayalalithaa loyalist who has also served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu multiple times, joined the DMK in February after the doors were closed to him permanently at the AIADMK, a party he had served for nearly 50 years until his expulsion in 2022. This was the result of his fallout with Edappadi K Palaniswami, who managed to consolidate power in the party following J Jayalalithaa's death.
Panneerselvam, popularly known as OPS, won the Periyakulam Assembly constituency in Theni district for the AIADMK twice. He then moved to the Bodinayakkanur seat in the same district, winning from there since 2011 and defeating candidates from the DMK.
On Saturday, the DMK released its list of candidates for the 164 seats it is contesting and named OPS for the Bodinayakkanur seat again.
Analysts said that while the 75-year-old leader still enjoys support in the constituency, the challenge for him will be to convince voters to pick the DMK's 'Rising Sun' symbol against the AIADMK's 'Two Leaves'. Complicating matters further will be the fact that the AIADMK and the DMK have been the two poles of Tamil Nadu politics for decades and have loyal followings. This will make vote transfers from one to the other even more difficult.
Caste dynamics will also play a crucial role in the constituency, with the Devanga and Thevar communities likely to influence the outcome. The DMK is banking on Panneerselvam's popularity among Thevar voters to reclaim the seat after losing it to him in previous elections.
DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced the list of candidates on Saturday after wrapping up seat-sharing talks with allies, including the Congress and the Left. Stalin will be contesting again from Kolathur in Chennai and Udhayanidhi is seeking re-election from Chepauk-Triplicane, also in the city.
Apart from the 164 DMK candidates, 11 leaders from allies, including those from the Vaiko-led MDMK, will also contest on the party's 'Rising Sun' symbol.
Voting for the 234 Assembly seats in the state will be held on April 23. Counting will take place on May 4.
