CHENNAI: “Even if all 16,000-odd first-time voters back TVK, the DMK will still win Egmore by a massive margin,” says a confident Prasanna Sundaram alias Tamilan Prasana, DMK’s Egmore candidate and practising lawyer. Here is a short interview with him: How do you assess your opponents’ strength in the constituency?They are yet to gain organisational…
Kanyakumari: All eyes are on the final Sunday before polling in Kanyakumari, where church messaging has long shaped voting patterns in a district where Christians form 47% of the electorate.Traditionally, churches use the Sunday before polling to signal their preferences. This year, the pattern has shifted. With Joseph Vijay’s entry, Congress and DMK advanced their…
Chennai: A few party flags hang limp in the summer heat, a lone campaign lorry blaring DMK govt’s achievements crawls along the Tiruvannamalai–Kallakurichi road near Melkachirapattu, and the occasional wall bears fading AIADMK and BJP symbols. Even during election season, Tiruvannamalai is a town weighed down by everyday concerns. Residents say long-pending issues such as…
Chennai: The campaign trail in Tamil Nadu has become a masterclass in endurance, with a ‘silver guard’ of veterans in their 80s and 90s defying the 42°C heat to lead the charge towards the April 23 poll. At 87, DMK’s Duraimurugan, a 10-time winner and the undefeated ‘champion’ of Katpadi for 30 years, hits the…
Chennai: Candidates of four major parties in Sholinganallur constituency took a short break from their campaign on Saturday. Residents asked tough questions to the sitting MLA S Aravind Ramesh about unfulfilled promises, including the one of piped water supply to houses. Other aspiring candidates were asked to give a roadmap for one of the fastest-growing…
Chennai: Strict action will be taken against establishments that fail to grant paid leave to employees on April 23, the polling day in the state, the labour commissioner said in a release on Saturday.On the instructions of the Election Commission of India, all employers in the state — including industrial establishments, IT companies, shops and…
Chennai: TVK president Joseph Vijay on Saturday alleged that efforts were underway to confuse people through various means during the election period.In a post on X, he said such attempts were not new but that it was the cadres’ duty to remain alert. He accused the DMK govt of using officials to interfere with his…
DMK is facing a ‘double-engine’ referendum in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar constituency. The constituency was represented by Thayagam Kavi alias P Sivakumar in the assembly and R Priya as mayor in Greater Chennai Corporation. Taking on DMK is AIADMK’s Porkodi Armstrong, who is working on a caste consolidation and rekindling memories of her husband’s murder….
Chennai: A newborn baby girl was found abandoned in a toilet at a private scan centre near the Kancheepuram govt general hospital on Friday, and police launched a search for the 17-year-old mother who left the premises after delivery. Scan centre staff informed Sivakanchi police, who reached the spot and initiated an inquiry. The infant…
Chennai: A crash-landing of an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft at Pune airport late on Friday night triggered widespread disruption to flight services from Chennai airport, leading to diversions, cancellations and chaos among passengers.An Air India Express flight that departed Chennai at 10.05pm with 162 passengers on board was unable to land in Pune and…
