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As the polling for the 2024 Lok Sabha election nears in Tamil Nadu, the state's Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin held a roadshow and door-to-door campaign in Kolathur, Chennai, on Tuesday.
Stalin, along with DMK's candidate from the North Chennai Lok Sabha constituency, Kalanidhi Veeraswamy, were seen distributing the party's pamphlet to people, soliciting votes before they held the roadshow. Hundreds of DMK workers and supporters turned up for the roadshow, with many holding the party's flags and placards featuring the chief minister's picture. Stalin and Veeraswamy greeted the people, who were standing on either side of the road, from an open vehicle as it passed slowly. In the North Chennai Lok Sabha constituency, Veeraswamy is pitted against AIDMK's Royapuram Manohar and BJP's Rc Paul Kanagaraj. The constituency is one of the strongholds of the DMK, with the party winning eleven times between 1957 and 2019. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, DMK candidate Kalanidhi Veeraswamy won this seat, securing 5,90,986 votes. DMDK candidate R Mohan Raj came in second with 129,468 votes, and Makkal Needhi Maiam's AG Mourya came in third with 103,167 votes. The INDIA bloc in Tamil Nadu is led by the DMK and includes the Congress, Left parties, IUML, VCK, actor-politician Kamal Haasan's MNM, Vaiko's MDMK, and the Gounder community-based KMDK. The principal opposition party in the state, AIADMK, which recently severed its tie with the BJP, has put together an alliance of minor parties, including the DMDK, Puthiya Tamilagam (PT) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The BJP has aligned with a handful of regional parties, including Vanniyar caste leader S Ramadoss's PMK, former AIADMK leader T T V Dhinakaran's AMMK, former Congress leader G K Vasan's Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) (TMC-M), Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK), and Puthiya Neethi Katchi. In the 2019 elections, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance secured an overwhelming victory, winning 38 out of 39 seats. All 39 seats in Tamil Nadu will vote in a single phase on April 19 and the counting of votes will be held on June 4. Tamil Nadu ranks fifth in terms of Lok Sabha seats, with 39 seats, including 32 unreserved seats and seven reserved for SC candidates. The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats in the country will be held in seven phases starting April 19. (ANI)
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