The Election Commission of India on Monday announced the schedule for the biennial elections to fill six Rajya Sabha seats — one third of the seats from Tamil Nadu — that are set to fall vacant on July 24. The notification would be issued on June 2 and the last date for filing of nominations would be June 9. Scrutiny would be done the following day. After the last day for withdrawal of nominations (June 12), polling would be held on June 19, if a contest is required.
The ruling DMK and the Opposition AIADMK are expected to begin shortlisting candidates soon. Given the strength of the two parties and their allies in the Assembly, four seats can be bagged by the DMK and the balance by the AIADMK. Each winning candidate has to secure 34 votes in a contest.
The DMK, with 133 MLAs, can comfortably send three nominees to the Rajya Sabha and the fourth nominee will require the support of three more legislators. Its allies — the Congress (17), the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (4), and the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the CPI-Marxist (two each) — have more than what the DMK requires. As for the AIADMK, it has 66 MLAs, including former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and his three colleagues, who are all still recognised as its members. The AIADMK’s ally, BJP, has four legislators, and this would ensure the victory of the second nominee.
It is widely expected that the DMK will renominate sitting MPs P. Wilson and M.M. Abdulla. The third member, M. Shanmugam, an octogenarian, may not get the seat. MDMK leader Vaiko, who had entered the Rajya Sabha with the DMK’s support, may have to yield the place for Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder Kamal Haasan, as the DMK signed a pact with the MNM during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, offering it one Rajya Sabha seat.
There is only one member of the AIADMK, N. Chandrasegharan, whose tenure is coming to an end. The other seat will be vacated by PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss, who had won with the AIADMK’s support. Going by talk in political circles, the AIADMK would like to have the two seats for itself. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami had made it clear that there was no understanding with the DMDK for allotting it one Rajya Sabha seat, though the party was an ally in 2024.
In 2019 and 2020, the AIADMK was in a position to send three nominees to the Rajya Sabha. But it had given one seat each to the PMK and the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar). This was done, though the two parties had no representation in the Assembly, just as the MDMK was.
PMK’s stance on alliance
As a result, Anbumani Ramadoss and G.K. Vasan became MPs again. So far, the PMK has not announced its stand on an alliance for the 2026 Assembly election.
Among the names of leaders doing the rounds in political circles are former Ministers S. Semmalai, D. Jayakumar, and Gokula Indira. Others who are in the fray include Mr. Jayakumar’s son, J. Jayavardhan, who was the South Chennai MP during 2014-19, P. Saravanan, who crossed over to the AIADMK after being an MLA of the DMK for two years and in the BJP briefly, and V.V.R. Raj Satyen, son of veteran AIADMK leader of Madurai V.V. Rajan Chellappa.
Both Mr. Raj Satyen and Dr. Saravanan were fielded by the AIADMK in the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Madurai, and they lost to the DMK’s ally, CPI(M). There is a thinking in certain quarters of the party that one of the two representatives should be from southern districts, where the party is not perceived to be as strong as it was.
Mr. Semmalai, a member of the vanishing group of old timers in the party, was not nominated in the 2021 Assembly election. He had served as the Salem MP during 2009-14. Though he was not sent to the Lok Sabha again at the end of his term, he was fielded in the Mettur Assembly constituency at the last minute in 2016, and emerged victorious. In 2022, Mr. Jayakumar could not make it to the Rajya Sabha, though he had the backing of Mr. Palaniswami, who was then the joint coordinator, but not that of Mr. Panneerselvam, the coordinator. Besides, after Valumpuri John (who was a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1974 and during 1984-90), the party has not sent any representative from the fishermen community to the Rajya Sabha.
Published – May 27, 2025 12:56 am IST
