Breathing a relief over the sudden exit of VK Sasikala from politics, the Tamil Nadu ruling party ADMK is expediting the process of picking the candidates for the upcoming polls with the hope that it won't be struck by any new adversaries that would divide the party. The statements from the top two leaders of the party were evident of how Sasikala's decision had brought a major relaxation. 

On Thursday, the ADMK party had held interviews with the candidates who had moved their applications to seek the party's ticket to contest in the polls and the interview was unveiled a day after Sasikala had announced that she had decided to stay off from active politics. While addressing the event, ADMK Coordinator Pannerselvam said that the ruling government has been providing good governance under Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and the current situation is favorable for the party to win in the assembly polls. 

Panneerselvam said, "Amma (Jayalalithaa) had provided an excellent rule and following her demise, we continue to provide the best governance under Edappadi Palaniswami without making any changes to her successful schemes. A favorable situation has arisen now to win (Sasikala's exit)". Edappadi Palaniswami, who is facing his first legislative election as the Chief Minister, said that the party's victory would prove that no one can compete against it. He said, "It is an opportunity for us to prove that none can compete against us. We have earned the goodwill of the people by our schemes". 

According to reports, ADMK has received a whopping 8,200 applications from the cadres and aspirants across the state to contest in the upcoming polls from the party's ticket. The top two ADMK leaders had interviewed the aspirants ahead of offering them a ticket. The party's headquarters had seen the presence of a huge crowd following which the leaders have decided to hold the interviews district-wise and they had a brief one-on-one session following which the leaders had addressed the crowd. 

The interview drive had also seen the presence of senior ADMK leaders and ministers and the party had completed interviewing the aspirants in one day. According to the latest reports, the ADMK party will most-likely release the first set of candidates on Friday as the party has been mulling to constrain the delay in the process of picking candidates and inking deals with the allied parties as the state is a week ahead of commencing the nomination process for the assembly polls. 

Political observers say that Sasikala's exit has poured a major relief to the ADMK party as the current leaders are hoping that the expelled General Secretary won't orchestrate any drive of collapsing and dividing the party, which was earlier speculated from Sasikala's political resurgence. While Sasikala had shocked her supporters through her decision, she also had got a welcome note from the feuding faction with ADMK leader KP Munusamy welcoming her decision to remain loyal to Jayalalithaa. 

The ADMK party has also been hoping that the effect of Sasikala's exit will restrict the rise of AMMK's TTV Dhinakaran as he has been steering the party under the banner of Sasikala. Though it was speculated that Sasikala will give a comeback after the elections, the ADMK is mulling to win the polls under the leadership of Edappadi Palaniswami so that it can keep the gates closed for Sasikala. These were the factors behind Panneerselvam's statement of predicting a favorable situation for the ADMK to win the polls. Let's take a look at the election schedule in Tamil Nadu. 

• Single-phase election for all the 234 constituencies
• Issue of Notification - March 12th, 2021.
• Last date of nomination - March 19th, 2021.
• Last date of scrutiny - March 20th, 2021.
• Last date for withdrawing nomination - March 22nd, 2021
• Date of Election - April 6th, 2021. 
• Date of counting - May 2nd, 2021, during which the winner will be declared.