3 min readChennaiMar 13, 2021 04:46 PM IST
First published on: Mar 12, 2021 at 04:38 PM IST
Actor-turned politician Kamal Haasan will be making his electoral debut from the Coimbatore South constituency in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections slated to be held on April 6.
The Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) president made the announcement on Friday, while releasing the second list of his party’s candidates.
Remembering his late father Sreenivasan, Haasan expressed confidence that the people of his constituency would enable him to voice his views in the assembly by voting for him. “My father’s dream was I should become an IAS officer and then enter politics. Though I could not realise his dream (of becoming an IAS officer), my party comprises many (former) IAS officers. That is a proud moment for us,” he told reporters.
MNM had announced the first list of 70 candidates on Wednesday that included V Ponraj, a scientist and former associate of late President APJ Abdul Kalam, lyricist Snehan, and former IAS officer Santhosh Babu among others.
Haasan’s second list also comprised several popular names including actor Sripriya, who has been fielded in the Mylapore constituency, and former AIADMK MLA and senior politician Pazha Karuppiah who will be contesting from T Nagar. So far, a total of 113 candidates have been named by the MNM.
The ruling AIADMK had won the Coimbatore South constituency in the previous two assembly elections with Amman K Arjunan being the incumbent MLA from the constituency. However, the MNM had a vote share of 3.72 per cent in the last Lok Sabha polls, which was significant as MNM was hardly 14-months-old when it faced the elections.
In the Lok Sabha elections, the maximum votes (1.45 lakh) was bagged by his party candidate, R Mahendran, in Coimbatore. In three of the four seats in Chennai city, Kamal’s party had up to one lakh votes.
The MNM has struck an alliance with actor Sarathkumar’s All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK) and SRM group founder TR Pachamuthu’s Indhiya Janayaga Katchi (IJK) for the upcoming elections.
Haasan’s party will be contesting on 154 seats and of the remaining 80, AISMK and IJK will be contesting 40 each.
AISMK and IJK leaders had met Haasan in February and hoped that MNM would enter into a poll-pact with them. During his party’s sixth general council meet, Sarathkumar openly endorsed Haasan as their chief ministerial candidate. Though the allies issued statements confirming that they have struck an alliance with MNM, Haasan kept his cards close to his chest. Even until last Sunday, he did not confirm his alliance partners.
With PTI inputs
Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) president Kamal Haasan. (Photo: Twitter/@maiamofficial) 
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