Tamil Nadu Assembly Polls: AIADMK releases first list of 23 candidates, fields K Palaniswami from Edappadi

Chennai:

In view of the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) announced its first list of 23 candidates on Wednesday. Notably, AIADMK is the main opposition force and leader of the NDA bloc in Tamil Nadu. The party once again fielded its general secretary K Palaniswami from the Edappadi constituency -- his home turf located in Salem district.

Senior leaders retained in key seats

In an official statement, Palaniswami said, "As per the decision taken after due consideration by the Governing Council of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, I hereby inform that for the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly General Elections scheduled to be held on 23.04.2026, the following individuals have been selected and will be fielded as the official candidates of the party in the respective Assembly constituencies listed." Among other key candidates named in the list are K P Munusamy from Veppanahalli, Dindigul C Srinivasan from Dindigul, Natham R Viswanathan from Natham, S P Velumani from Thondamuthur, and D Jayakumar from Royapuram.

The party has also named several senior leaders in its first list, including P Balakrishna from Krishnagiri, D Jayakumar from Rayakottai, C V Shanmugam from Hosur, S K Rajendran from Maduranthakam, K P Anbazhagan from Palacode, R K Nagaraj from Pennagaram, and O S Manian from Velur.

First major party to announce candidates

While the Tamil nationalist outfit NTK had earlier rolled out its list covering all 234 constituencies, the AIADMK became the first major political party in the state to formally declare its candidates, though only partially at this stage. Earlier, following a meeting with Union Minister Piyush Goyal and AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami, Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) president GK Vasan on Tuesday announced that a seat-sharing agreement had been reached with the AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which has secured the party five constituencies for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.

Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026

Tamil Nadu will go to the polls in a single phase on April 23, with counting scheduled for May 4. The current tenure of the 234-member state assembly ends on May 10. The main electoral contest is expected between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), which includes Congress, DMDK, and other parties. Looking to unseat the ruling alliance are the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) with BJP and Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) as allies.

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