The Indian National Congress has unveiled its first‑phase list of candidates for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, naming 27 contestants as part of the DMK‑led alliance and signalling both continuity and a measured push for fresh faces. The party will contest 28 seats in total, with the name for the Melur constituency in Madurai district yet to be finalised, highlighting the factional tensions that have accompanied the ticket‑distribution exercise.
Senior leaders at the helm
State Congress chief K. Selvaperunthagai will lead the list by contesting from the high‑stakes Sriperumbudur (SC) seat, while CLP leader S. Rajesh Kumar has been fielded from Killiyoor in Kanyakumari district. Session‑wise renominations include sitting MLAs such as J. M. H. Aassan Maulaana (Velachery), Ruby R. Manoharan (Nanguneri), Durai Chandrasekar (Ponneri) and S. Mangudi (Karaikudi), reflecting the party’s effort to back incumbents with an established record.
Of the 18 sitting Congress MLAs, 12 have been renominated, underlining the high‑command’s desire for stability in a coalition where the party’s leverage is modest compared with the DMK and its allies. Known figures such as former MP A. Chella Kumar from Krishnagiri and G. K. M. Tamil Kumaran of Pennagaram son of former PMK president G. K. Mani add to the blend of veterans, defectors, and local stalwarts the party is relying on.
Fresh faces and internal friction
The list also showcases a calibrated mix of newcomers, including Youth Congress president K. P. Surya Prakash, who will contest from Kavundampalayam, and two women candidates—Srinidhi Naidu from Singanallur and Dr. Tharagai Cuthbert from Colachel, an MLA elected in a 2024 by‑poll. These entries are being framed as part of Congress’s effort to rejuvenate its base and appeal to younger, urban and women voters who are increasingly central to Tamil Nadu’s election arithmetic.
Yet the announcement has come amid visible internal discord. The failure to name a nominee for Melur has laid bare simmering factional feuds, and senior Congress MP S. Jothimani has publicly questioned the quality of several candidates, threatening to sit out the campaign if her concerns are not addressed. In response, Selvaperunthagai has offered to step down after the poll if the party is unimpressed with his performance, an unusual concession that underscores the sensitivity surrounding leader‑centred resentment in the state unit.
A minor player with a focused gamble
Congruent with the BJP’s similar 27‑seat list, Congress’s slate positions the party as a junior but visible ally in a crowded field dominated by the DMK, AIADMK‑led NDA and newer outfits like Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. The ticket‑distribution strategy, therefore, is less about sweeping the state and more about consolidating pockets where the party already has presence from eastern Chennai and Tiruvallur‑belt seats like Ponneri and Sriperumbudur, to southern strongholds such as Killiyoor and Nanguneri.
As the April 23 single‑phase election approaches, Tamil Nadu’s voters will judge Congress not on the scale of its intervention, but on how effectively it can defend its limited basket of seats in a contest where the principal narratives rest with the ruling DMK, the resurgent BJP‑NDA and TVK.
-Samuthiran
