CPM announces 9 candidates for Tamil Nadu

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Monday announced its candidates, including two women, for nine Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu.

Releasing the list to the media here, CPI-M's state secretary G Ramakrishnan said he party has also field two Dalits - one of them in Virudhunagar, a general constituency.

The party has retained sitting Lok Sabha member PR Natarajan from the Coimbatore constituency.

The prominent faces in the CPI-M list are former MP AV Bellaramin from Kanyakumari and Vasuki from North Chennai.

The other contestants are: P Vikaraman (Madurai), S Sridhar (Trichy), K Samuel Raj (Virudhunagar), N Pandi (Dindigul), G Anandhan (Villuppuram - reserved), and S Tamizhselvi (Thanjavur).

The CPI-M and the Communist Party of India will be fighting the general elections jointly after their alliance talks with the ruling AIADMK broke down after the latter announced its candidates for all the state's 39 seats and offered them only a seat each.