Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Tough contest in Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Located on the northern tip of Tamil Nadu, Tiruvallur has the tag of being the ‘number one’ constituency (in geographical terms) of the state in the Election Commission’s list. It represents a microcosm of the state with a mix of urban areas, agricultural land, and a rich coastal ecosystem.
Following the 2008 delimitation exercise that shaped the current constituency, Tiruvallur favored the AIADMK in the first two elections. In 2009, there was a direct face-off between DMK and AIADMK and the latter’s P. Venugopal won by a margin of 31,673 votes.
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He won again in 2014 when the DMK left the constituency for its alliance partner VCK. This time this difference increased to 3.23 lakh votes. However, the leader could not score a hat-trick as the DMK-led alliance rode the anti-incumbency wave and took advantage of the rift within the AIADMK to win the 2019 elections. Congress party’s K Jayakumar defeated Venugopal by a huge margin of 3.57 lakh votes.
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This time, none of the Dravidian parties are directly in the fray as the AIADMK has given the seat to its ally DMDK and the Congress has retained it in the DMK-led alliance with a new candidate. In fact, all three major candidates, including the BJP, do not have roots in the district, increasing the burden on voters to assess the comparatively new faces.
“Despite being located close to the capital city and enjoying the presence of some industries, this place is underdeveloped compared to suburban areas of Chennai like Tambaram because the ‘sons of the soil’ are not given a chance to contest elections,” said a voter. goes.” The constituency also does not have outer and inner ring roads to reduce traffic in the city.
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This constituency includes Gummidipoondi, Tiruvallur, Ponneri (SC), Poonamallee (SC), Avadi and Madhavaram assembly constituencies.
Despite anti-incumbency wave over sitting MP Jayakumar’s alleged lack of connect with the public and party cadre, the Congress seems to be gaining ground in the constituency as the sitting MP has been replaced by former IAS officer Shashikant Senthil. AIADMK’s decision of not contesting the elections directly may also be in favor of the DMK alliance.
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A top official of the DMK alliance party said, “The outgoing MLA took some initiatives like starting desilting work in the Pazhaverkadu estuary, but they did not materialize during his tenure. A section of the DMK and Congress cadre were also dissatisfied as the MP could not be contacted. However, everyone is happy with the parties’ decision to field new faces.
The DMDK, in alliance with the AIADMK, has fielded former Egmore MLA K Nallathambi, while the BJP has fielded Pon V Balaganapathi.
Although Tiruvallur is a reserved constituency, where more than 30% of the voters are from the SC community, there is also a significant population of the MBC community of Vanniyars, especially in places like Gummidipoondi. It remains to be seen whether the BJP, which is in alliance with the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), which holds significant influence over the Vanniyar vote bank, can transfer votes from its ally. It seems that BJP has support even among land owning farmers.
Despite being in the AIADMK-led alliance, Puratchi Bharatam, a party popular among a section of Dalits in the constituency, delayed extending its support, reportedly because they were unhappy with the seat allocation to the DMDK. Party president Jagan Murthy announced the endorsement on 3 April. An AIADMK functionary said, “There are difficulties in popularizing the DMDK’s ‘Murasu’ symbol among the cadre. Had we been contesting the elections directly, I would have been confident of our victory. However, since there is widespread dissatisfaction over the performance of the previous Congress MP, we still have higher chances.
Major issues in the constituency include the absence of any arts and science college in Tiruvallur town, the pending demand for an overbridge at Veppampattu and Sevaipettai railway level crossings, inadequate construction of check dams to store water to help agriculture and the lack of water in the district. Including the lack of facilities within. industrial Estate. Another major demand is to stop more express trains at Tiruvallur.
Many students, especially girls, in the areas around Tiruvallur drop out after school as they have to travel long distances to government arts and science colleges. S Krishnaveni (40) of the town said she left studies after Class 12 due to lack of government colleges nearby. “Since my family was from a low economic background, my parents were not willing to send me to a private college or let me travel. My two years after completing school