Campaigning ends in central districts

Intense Lok Sabha election campaign in central region with various political parties racing against time to woo voters.

The curtains came down on a short but intense campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in the central region on Wednesday. Candidates of various political parties criss-crossed their constituencies in a hectic last-minute attempt to enlist the support of voters.

On the last day, most candidates raced against time to reach out to as many voters as possible by going around the constituencies in vehicles. Campaigning reached a crescendo over the past week in the six Lok Sabha constituencies of Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Karur and Perambalur.

DMK’s K .N. Arun Nehru and IJK founder T .R .Paarivendhar; MDMK’s Durai Vaiko and AIADMK’s P .Karuppaiah, brother of Karikalan, who was under the ED scanner recently in connection with alleged illegal sand mining; sitting MP S. Jothimani and State Mahalir Congress President R. Sudha are among the candidates who are testing their political fortunes in the central region this election.

Interestingly, both Chief Minister M. K. Stalin and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami started their campaign for their polls in Tiruchi. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi chose to skip the region this time.

Mr. Modi visited Tiruchi twice in January, first to open the new airport terminal and participate in the convocation of Bharathidasan University and later to offer worship at Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam. He was widely expected to campaign in Perambalur constituency but the visit did not materialise. However, BJP president J .P .Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman conducted road shows and addressed election rallies at a few places in the region.

Mr. Gandhi was also expected to visit Karur or Mayiladuthurai as Ms. Jothimani and Ms. Sudha are considered to be among his close associates. However, the INDIA bloc campaign in the region was largely handled by the regional leaders of the alliance parties.

On Wednesday, most of the candidates took up whirlwind campaign trips on open vehicles accompanied by cadre of their parties and their allies on two-wheelers.