DMK functionaries in Thanjavur district’s Papanasam Assembly constituency have urged the party leadership to allot the seat to the DMK for the upcoming election. They argue that the party has not secured a direct victory in the constituency for decades.
In the 2021 Assembly election, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) leader Jawahirullah, a DMK alliance partner, contested from Papanasam on the DMK’s “Rising Sun” symbol and won. He is now seeking the same constituency again, but local DMK members say the party itself should field a candidate this time.
According to DMK members, the constituency was won by the Congress from 1952 to 1967, and the DMK won only once—in 1971—when a candidate named Ganapathy was elected. They said Congress won again from 1977 to 1991, including a 1989 victory by the late G.K. Moopanar, and the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) won in 1996 and 2001.
They further noted that in 2006, 2011 and 2016, the seat was allotted to Congress within the DMK alliance, but the AIADMK won those elections. While the “Rising Sun” symbol won in 2021, they stressed the candidate was not from the DMK, and have requested that Papanasam be reserved for a DMK nominee this time.
