Hours after releasing the list of constituencies, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has unveiled its list of candidates for the upcoming assembly polls. The development has implied that the parties in Tamil Nadu are moving at a high pace towards the election, which is three weeks away. On Wednesday, weeks after inking the deal with ADMK with an offer of 23 seats, PMK had issued the statement, along with ADMK, in which it has released the list of constituencies. 

The ADMK had awarded 23 seats to PMK and the latter had chosen the constituencies majorly from the Northern districts of the state where the party has the strong voter base- the Vanniyar community. Following the announcement of the list of constituencies, PMK had released two sets of candidates- ten candidates in the first set and nine candidates in the second set. The statement of the list of candidates was signed by PMK leader GK Mani. 

According to the list of constituencies, PMK will be contesting in Gingee (Villupuram), Mailam (Villupuram), Jayankondam (Ariyalur), Thiruporur (Chengalpattu), Vandavasi (Tiruvannamalai), Neyveli (Cuddalore), Thirupathur (Thirupathur), Arcot (Ranipet), Gummidipoondi (Tiruvallur), Mayiladuthurai, Pennagaram (Dharmapuri), Dharmapuri, Virudhachalam (Cuddalore), Kancheepuram, Kilpennathur (Tiruvannamalai), Mettur (Salem), Salem South, Solinghar (Ranipet), Sankarapuram (Kallakurichi), Chepauk- Triplicane (Chennai), Poonammalee (Chennai), Kilvelur (Nagapattinam), and Athur (Dindigul). 

Let's take a look at the list of PMK candidates and their constituencies, GK Mani - Pennagaram, Thilagabama - Athur (Dindigul), Selvakumar - Kilpennathur, Thirukachur Arumugam - Thiruporur, K Balu - Jayankondam, Ilavalazhagan - Arcot, TK Raja - Thirupathur, SP Venkateswaran - Dharmapuri, Arul -Salem West, and SPS Rajendran -Gingee. These were the candidates who got unveiled the first set of the list of candidates and moments later, PMK had released the second set of candidates with nine candidates. 

The second list of candidates includes Chithamalli Palaniswami - Mayiladuthurai, Karthikeyan - Virudhachalam, Kasaali - Chepauk - Triplicane, Jegan - Neyveli, Prakash - Gummadipoondi, Krishnan - Solinghar, Mukundan - Kilvelur, Maheshkumar - Kancheepuram, and Sivakumar - Mailam. As PMK has announced the list of candidates for 19 constituencies, the party is yet to finalize the candidates for the remaining four seats and it has been expected that it will be announced on Thursday. 

On Wednesday, ADMK and BJP had jointly released the list of constituencies for the Central ruling party. BJP had made a deal with ADMK and got 20 seats for the assembly polls and while BJP had expected Chepauk- Triplicane where it has planned to field Khushbu Sundar, the constituency has eventually gone to PMK. In late last month, ADMK had inked the deal with PMK by agreeing to offer 23 seats. 

The deal was finalized hours after the ADMK government had announced a 10.5% reservation bill for the Vanniyar Community, which was demanded by PMK. Through the reservation bill, the Vanniyar Community can get education and employment opportunities in Tamil Nadu under the reservation bill. As the bill was announced, the ADMK had leniently made the deal with PMK.