Deadlock in six seats, Annamalai’s candidature holds up BJP’s candidate list

Chennai: The delay in BJP releasing its Tamil Nadu candidate list has been attributed by partymen to a deadlock over finalising the canddiates for six constituencies.

BJP sources said there were multiple aspirants for Tiruppur South, Ramanathapuram, Manamadurai, Aranthangi, Avadi and Pudukottai, stalling the finalisation. Party's attempt to accomodate former state president K Annamalai in one of the segments allotted to BJP by AIADMk was also delaying the process.






At a core committee meeting on Tuesday led by Union minister and Tamil Nadu poll in-charge Piyush Goyal, the party leadership asked former state president K Annamalai to contest the 2026 elections.

BJP leaders said that Annamalai has agreed to contest if given any one of the six assembly segments within the Coimbatore parliamentary constituency, where he polled 32% in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Coimbatore North is the only one among those six segments allotted to the BJP, with Vanathi Srinivasan the preferred candidate. As she was not willing to vacate the seat, leaders discussed alternative segments. Modakurichi and Tiruppur North, both allotted to the BJP among the 27 seats, were considered.

There was stiff competition for Tiruppur North which was eyed by AP Muruganantham, Hindu Munnani's Kadeswarar Thangaraj and the son of a veteran BJP leader. Hence a final decision was not taken, said a BJP leader.

After the core committee meeting, Goyal held a one-to-one meeting with Annamalai that lasted about 30 minutes, though details were not known. On Wednesday, the BJP arrived at a consensus and sent three shortlisted names for each of the six constituencies to the party's central leadership for a final decision, likely on Thursday.

Goyal told the leaders at the meeting, where state president Nainar NAgenthran was also present, that the central leadership had taken note of dissent from cadres over seat allotment.

"Piyush Goyal told us that he was surprised by the dissent as the seat allotment had been discussed in detail before it was finalised. He said BJP had secured 18 to 20 seats that it had on priority list," said a senior BJP leader who attended the meeting.