Jayalalithaa

Chennai, March 27: Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa will return before voters in Andipatti in her quest for another term at the helm but dropped more than 60 sitting legislators for the tough battle ahead.

Of the 182 seats the ADMK is contesting in the 234-member House, nearly 130 are new faces. Among the prominent losers are finance minister C. Ponnaiyan, largely seen as being responsible for the controversial sacking of nearly 1.75 lakh striking government employees in 2003.

Twenty-four women, including Jayalalithaa, figure on the list besides film and stage actor S.V. Sekhar.

In neighbouring Kerala, the party will contest 54 of the 140 seats, far more than what it has in earlier elections.

For Jayalalithaa, it will be the second time she would contest from Andipatti, where she won in a February 2002 bypoll to enter the Assembly and be sworn in again as chief minister after the Supreme Court had struck down her appointment as unconstitutional.

Andipatti, in Theni district, was one of the four places she had filed nominations from in the run-up to the 2001 polls, but her papers were rejected for an earlier conviction in a land deal case.

The ADMK, however, swept the polls and Jayalalithaa was elected leader of the legislature party and sworn in chief minister. But a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court saw her lose the job months later.

Jayalalithaa later appealed against the trial court’s order and was acquitted by the high court, which cleared the way for the Andipatti bypoll.

It is to this constituency she now returns. Andipatti is also considered a safe seat as Jayalalithaa has nurtured it during the past four years that saw the construction of a medical college and hospital.

Among the other prominent figures who have not been re-nominated are former education minister S. Semmalai and Assembly deputy Speaker Varahur Arunachalam. But most of Jayalalithaa’s current cabinet colleagues, including law and IT minister D. Jayakumar, have been fielded again.

Sources said one reason behind fielding so many newcomers is to help reduce the impact of anti-incumbency in a fight, expected to be tough against the combined might of the DMK, Congress and the Left.