Easy Run For DMK's Firebrand Kanimozhi In Thoothukkudi?

Kanimozhi, the daughter of the former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi is one of the strongest faces from Tamil Nadu in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The DMK deputy general secretary and sitting MP is the party’s Thoothukkudi candidate for the second time.

The DMK leader is pitted against AIADMK’s R Sivasami Velumani and NDA’s SDR Vijayaseelan of the Tamil Manila Congress (Moopanar). However, a two-term Rajya Sabha MP, DMK’s Kanimozhi banks on her popularity to retain Thoothukudi in Lok Sabha elections.

Kanimozhi has been one of the vocal leaders, with her presence being exhibited in different social and cultural spheres.  A political leader, orator, poet, and thinker, she has been actively engaging in different domains of social life. Her political clout, bedsides having the privilege of her father, have entrenched across the southern state.

A postgraduate, she has often been noticed for her voice for the marginalised, women empowerment, and other backward people in society. Though she faced allegations of involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation scam in 2011, she was acquitted later.

However, to confront Kanimozhi, the rival candidates have raised the issues of the alleged failure of the state government and respective MP in assuaging the flood-affected communities.  There were claims from the public that many did not receive enough help and relief from the government when the flood devastated them.

The popular leader who has held several important positions within the party won her debut Lok Sabha seat by a margin of around 3.4 lakh votes. However, according to political analysts, Kanimozhi would emerge victorious for another term, noting the lack of strong opponents from the rival parties. Kanimozhi has rallied the people behind attacking Prime Minister Modi over “dictatorship.”

During the 2019 general election, Kanimozhi defeated the BJP’s Tamilisai Soundararajan, who is vying from Chennai South constituency this time. Notably, in 2014, AIADMK’s Jayasingh Thiyagara Natterjee had won Thoothukkudi by a margin of more than one lakh votes. As the party contesting without allying with the BJP this time, there could also be a surge for the alternate Dravidian party.

The ruling DMK has been representing five out of the six assembly segments, projecting a picture of the constituency, favouring MK Stalin-led party.