The ruling AIADMK led by two-time Chief Minister and former actress J Jayalalithaa has fielded the maximum number of women candidates.
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has already set a record. The state has the highest number of women candidates being fielded since 1952. As many as 160 women will be contesting in the May 8 polls.
The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) led by two-time Chief Minister and former actress J Jayalalithaa has fielded the maximum number of women candidates.
The party is contesting 182 of the 234 assembly seats and has fielded 24 women. In 2001, the party had contested 142 seats and fielded 19 women. Besides Jayalalithaa , among the colourful women candidates from the AIADMK are ministers Valarmathi and Jayalalitha’s school friend Bader Sayed, a lawyer.
The opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has put up 13 women candidates. The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has given one seat to Sakthikamalammal in Kancheepuram town and one to M Varalakshmi in Anaicut. The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), an ally of the AIADMK, has fielded just one woman in Anna Nagar here, Vijaya Thayanban.
The CPI-M has given three out of its 13 seats to women. The constituency where maximum number of women candidates is contesting is Thousand Lights in the heart of Chennai. Here, DMK’s MK Stalin, the son of party chief M Karunanidhi, will be opposed by 25 candidates, including six women.
The Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), floated by film star Vijayakanth, has fielded Usha Ravi, the wife of a local auto rickshaw driver, in the Arakkonam constituency. In the Kanyakumari district, the CPI-M has fielded Leema Rose, the daughter of a woman labourer, in the Tiruvattar constituency. “My party has held this seat for 20 years and I am sure I will win,” says Rose, a post-graduate degree holder and mother of two.
Forest brigand Veerappan’s widow Muthulakshmi, of course, is yet another colourful contestant in the 2006 assembly polls. She is a candidate from Pennagaram.
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