The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Wednesday announced its candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for June 19, 2025. Tamil Nadu's ruling party named candidates on three out of six seats from the state for the biennial Rajya Sabha polls. The DMK has allotted one Upper House seat to an ally, actor-politician Kamal Haasan-led Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM)
DMK candidates are:
The DMK has re-nominated its sitting Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate P Wilson for another term. Alongside him, the party has named SR Sivalingam, a leader from Salem, and Ruqayya Malik, popularly known as Kavignar Salma, a poet, writer, and active party functionary, as its other two candidates for the Upper House.
Chief Minister M K Stalin, also the president of the ruling DMK, in a party release here said that the allocation of one seat to Haasan's party is in keeping with an electoral pact with MNM ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Kamal Haasan set for Rajya Sabha entry?
Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan is set to make his debut in the Rajya Sabha, with the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu extending its support. The MNM has already passed a resolution endorsing his nomination to the Upper House of Parliament.
MNM leader Murali Appas said, "We have passed a resolution to elect Kamal Haasan as a Rajya Sabha member from Makkal Needhi Maiam party."
Haasan, who launched his political journey in 2018, has consistently advocated for alternative and transparent governance as the core of his political vision.
The DMK-led alliance, with a majority strength of 159 MLAs in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, is poised to comfortably secure four Rajya Sabha seats in the upcoming elections.
Meanwhile, the main opposition AIADMK, led by Edappadi K Palaniswami, is likely to clinch two seats with the backing of its alliance partners, the BJP and the O Panneerselvam faction, bringing its effective support base to 62 MLAs.
Biennial Rajya Sabha elections for Tamil Nadu
The election to fill the six vacant Rajya Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu will be held on June 19, with the counting of votes also taking place on the same day.
In Tamil Nadu, six members — Anbumani Ramadoss (PMK), N. Chandrasekharan (AIADMK), M. Shanmugam and P. Wilson (DMK), and Vaiko (MDMK) — will retire on July 24, 2025.
The notification for the biennial election will be issued on June 2, with the last date for nominations set for June 9. Scrutiny of nominations will occur by June 10, and candidates can withdraw their names by June 12.
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