Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha elections 2024-Phase 1: Key constituencies and candidates

The first phase of 18th Lok Sabha elections will be held on Friday, April 19. At least 102 seats across 21 states will vote in this phase. Out of these, 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry constituency will go to polls. Tamil Nadu witness about 6.23 crore voters deciding the fate of 950 candidates by exercising their franchise in nearly 68,000 polling stations. The election in Tamil Nadu will be a triangular contest between the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). ALSO READ: Lok Sabha elections: Lost your voter ID card? Here’s how you can still voteIn the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the DMK-led alliance had swept the state by winning 38 out of the 39 seats. The DMK had won 24 while the Congress had bagged eight seats, the CPI and CPM had bagged two seats each. The VCK and IUML won a seat each.
The BJP, which drew a blank, has invested heavily in Tamil Nadu for this election. ALSO READ: Lok Sabha election 2024: Phase 1 polling on April 19. Check full schedule, key constituencies
 
Coimbatore: The hub of western Tamil Nadu is set to witness one of the most exciting electoral contest this season. State BJP chief K Annamalai is in poll fray from this seat and faces DMK leader Ganapathy P Rajkumar and AIADMK’s Singai Ramachandran. In his manifesto for the constituency, Annamalai, who quit the IPS to join politics, promised the establishment of the Indian Institute of Management, the offices of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Coimbatore city. The BJP also announced the introduction of round-the-clock mobile food vans named after the legendary leader and former Chief Minister, K Kamaraj.ALSO READ: How to check your polling booth on Election Commission’s website?Thoothukkudi: This constituency in southern Tamil Nadu has 28 contenders including DMK leader and incumbent MP Kanimozhi. In 2019, the DMK leader had defeated BJP’s Tamilisai Soundararajan. Kanimozhi had bagged 39.44 per cent of votes to emerge victorious. Chennai Central: This Lok Sabha seat with six assembly constituencies will witness a direct BJP vs DMK electoral contest. Former Union minister and incumbent DMK MP is contesting the election against BJP’s Vinoj P Selvam. Maran had won from this constituency in 2004 and 2009 as well. He served as the Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government in 2004. ALSO READ: Madhya Pradesh Lok Sabha Elections Phase 1: List of constituencies and candidatesNilgiris: The Nilgiris Lok Sabha seat will witness a triangular fight between incumbent MP A Raja of the DMK, AIADMK’s Logesh Tamil Selvan and Union minister L Murugan, who belongs to the BJP. Nilgiris has supported the Congress seven times, the DMK three times and the AIADMK and BJP twice. Raja won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, defeating AIADMK’s Thiyagarajan, securing 5,47,832 votes by a margin of over 2 lakh votes.
Chennai South: The BJP has fielded former Telangana Governor and party leader Tamilisai Soundararajan from Chennai South for the Lok Sabha polls. She is facing DMK MP T Sumathy and former AIADMK MP J Jayavardhan. The constituency has been a DMK stronghold with the party winning it five times. AIADMK has emerged victorious twice. BJP is yet to make its mark in the region and secured third place in the 2014 elections. ALSO READ: Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 1: List of documents required for votingRamanathapuram: Former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Paneerselvam (OPS), who recently lost the chair of the AIDMK to his rival Edapadi Palanaiswamy, is contesting the general election from Ramanathapuram. He is pitted against AIADMK’s Jayaperumal and K Navaskani from the Indian Union Muslim League, an ally of the DMK. In 2019, IUML’s Kani K Nawas emerged victorious with 469,943 votes, followed by the BJP’s Nainar Nagendran with 342,821 votes and independent candidate VDN Anand with 141,806 votes.Sivaganga: This constituency in Tamil Nadu will witness a three-cornered contest between incumbent Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, BJP’s Devanathan Yadav and A Xavierd of the AIADMK. Karti Chidambaram is the son of former Union Minister P Chidambaram and is seeking a third term in the Lok Sabha from Sivaganga. The BJP has made an entry through an unconventional candidate, Devanathan Yadav, a Chennai-based businessman who owns the WinTv group.