Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan on Wednesday announced a list of 70 candidates who will be contesting in the ‘Battery Torch’ symbol allotted to the party in Chennai.
While Mr. Haasan decided to prolong the suspense by not revealing the constituency he would contest from and saved it for a later date, he announced that his party’s star candidates, such as the newly appointed VP, V. Ponraj, former advisor to APJ Abdul Kalam, former IAS officer Santhosh Babu, who quit the service recently, movie lyricist Snehan and 25-year old environmental activist, Padmapriya will contest from Anna Nagar, Villivakkam, Virugambakkam and Maduravoyal respectively.
The party has also fielded seven Muslim candidates - in RK Nagar, Hosur, Pennagaram, Namakkal, Aravakurichi, Kunnam and Nagappatinam.
A second in-line office bearer of the party said that they had taken efforts to ensure that religious and linguistic minorities and women have been given adequate representation. The constituency of the party’s other vice-president, Dr. Mahendran, who got close to 1.3 lakh votes from Coimbatore Parliamentary constituency, is also likely to be revealed along with entrepreneur C.K. Kumaravel, actor Sripriya, Kameela Nasser and Mr. Haasan himself.
Asked which constituency Mr. Haasan is likely to pick, the party sources said that it is still a toss up between Alandur, T. Nagar and Mylapore constituency. Sources said that discussions are still on over whether he should contest from two constituencies.
