The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released its third list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, fielding ex-Telangana governor and BJP leader Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan from the Chennai South parliamentary constituency.
Soundararajan, who resigned as the Governor of Telangana and the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, re-joined the saffron camp in presence of Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai ahead of the crucial polls.
Who is Tamilisai Soundararajan?
1. Hailing from the influential Nagar community, Dr Soundararajan is the daughter of veteran Congress leader Kumari Ananthan and niece of H Vasanthakumar, a businessman and politician.
2. A physician by profession, she began her career as a gynaecologist and has special training in sonology and fetal therapy.
3. She also served in the BJP’s state unit as the South Chennai District medical wing secretary in 1999, state general secretary of the medical wing in 2001, All India co-convenor (medical wing for southern states) in 2005, state general secretary in 2007, and state vice-president in 2010. She was elevated to the post of national secretary in 2013.
4. She also served as former Tamil Nadu BJP chief, and contested 2019 Lok Sabha elections against DMK’s Kanimozhi, but lost by a huge margin in Thoothukudi. She also contested assembly elections in 2011 and 2016 but lost.
5. Soundararajan was appointed as Telangana Governor in September 2019. She was given an additional charge as L-G of Puducherry after Kiran Bedi was removed.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led alliance achieved a sweeping victory, capturing 38 out of 39 seats. The Congress, a key partner in the coalition, secured eight seats out of the nine it contested. DMK got 33.2 per cent vote share and Congress got 12.9 per cent. While, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), could only secure one seat.
Elections 2024:
The elections for the 543 parliamentary constituencies will be held in seven phases, starting on April 19 and culminating on June 1. The phase 1 polling will be held on April 19, the second phase on April 26, third phase on May 7, fourth phase on May 13, 5th phase on May 20, 6th phase on May 25 and the last and the 7th phase on June 1.
Tamil Nadu will vote in a single phase on April 19.
In Tamil Nadu, BJP stitched an alliance with the Tamil Maanila Congress after the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) snapped its ties with the saffron party. The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has sealed a seat-sharing deal with the Congress and filmmaker Kamal Haassan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam for Lok Sabha polls in the state.
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