Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Tuesday conducted a door-to-door campaign in Vellore ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the state.During his campaign, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader stopped at a local tea shop, where he drank tea and interacted with residents in Vellore, often referred to as the Fort City of Tamil Nadu.The DMK has fielded sitting MLA P Karthikeyan from the Vellore constituency, setting up a rematch against S R K Appu of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). In the 2021 Assembly elections, Karthikeyan had defeated Appu by a margin of 9,181 votes, or 5.1 per cent.The Muslim community is expected to play a key role in the constituency, with a population share of 24.28 per cent in Vellore city, according to the 2011 Census.Earlier on Monday, Stalin had said that the DMK would defeat the NDA alliance in the assembly elections, saying the “Tamil Nadu team” would prevail over the “Delhi team”.Addressing a public meeting in Ranipet district, he accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of raising the issue of delimitation to divert attention from concerns such as LPG shortages and the depreciation of the Indian rupee against the US dollar.“In the 2026 democratic war, I have come so that we shall defeat the Delhi team and make the Tamil Nadu team win. BJP is now taking the delimitation in hand. People are facing trouble without gas, and the Indian rupee has gone high against the dollar. So, to divert attention, the BJP is trying to take the delimitation issue now. This delimitation is the biggest in Indian history. If they are hiding it and trying to implement it, then surely they are against Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said, news agency ANI reported.He also described the party’s election manifesto as a “superstar” and announced a welfare scheme aimed at women voters. Under the proposal, the DMK plans to provide an Rs 8,000 coupon to women for purchasing new home appliances or exchanging existing ones.Tamil Nadu will go to the polls in a single phase on April 23, with counting scheduled for May 4.The main contest is expected between the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, which includes the Indian National Congress, DMDK and VCK, and the NDA led by AIADMK, along with BJP and PMK. Actor-turned-politician Vijay is also set to make his electoral debut with his party TVK, potentially turning the contest into a three-way fight.
