AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami made an unexpected move on Wednesday by announcing 16 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu, even before finalising the party's alliance partners.

The decision also comes amidst intense talks with several potential alliances for the party. In the AIADMK alliance till now, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said, "DMDK will contest in 5 seats, SDPI in 1 seat and Puthiya Tamilagam in 1 seat, from Tenkasi constituency."


AIADMK Candidates


In a press conference, Edappadi Palaniswami announced AIADMK candidates. According to the list unveiled by the party, AIADMK has nominated former MP J Jayavardhan, son of former MLA Jayakumar and former MLA Dr P Saravanan. Additionally, the list comprises several senior party officials.


Chennai South - Jayavardhan
Chennai North - Royapuram Manohar
Krishnagiri - Jayaprakash 
Erode - Atral Ashok Kumar 
Chidambaram - Chandrakaasan
Madurai - Saravanan 
Theni - VD Narayanasamy 
Nagapattinam - Surjith Sankar
Namakkal - Tamil Mani
Salem - Vignesh 
Villupuram - Bakkiyaraj 
Kanchipuram - Rajasekar 
Arakkonam - AL Vijayan
Arani - Gajendran
Ramanathapuram - Jeyaperumal

The party candidates will contest in two-leave symbol.  


AIADMK Alliance


Talking to the reporters, the former Chief Minister emphasised that the AIADMK is not reliant on alliances for its electoral success. 


The AIADMK chief listed a few parties who continue with the AIADMK alliance including Puthiya Tamizhagam, SDPI, DMDK and Manithaneya Jananaya Katchi. 


Earlier, AIADMK severed ties with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state. Later, the BJP formed an alliance with PMK in TN. PM Modi campaigned for NDA in the presence of PMK chief Ramadoss on Tuesday.

This is also the first Lok Sabha elections AIADMK is set to face after quitting NDA. 


The elections for 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state are scheduled for April 19. The general elections will be conducted in seven phases, with the initial phase commencing on April 19 and the final phase on June 1. The counting of votes for all 543 Lok Sabha constituencies will take place on June 4.