Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 | AIADMK fields Armstrong's wife in Chennai

Chennai: Political parties have strange ways of milking personal tragedies for electoral gain.

Tamil Nadu BSP chief K Armstrong, popular among youth in north Chennai, kept an equidistance from both DMK and AIADMK until his murder over past rivalries in July 2024. Now, the AIADMK has now fielded Armstrong’s wife, Porkodi from Thiru Vi Ka Nagar (reserved) constituency in Chennai.

Porkodi has blamed the police under the DMK government for a shoddy investigation into her husband’s death and wants perpetrators identified and punished.

This is not the first time that political parties in Tamil Nadu have exploited murders or “encounters” for political mileage by fielding immediate family members of victims in elections.

In 2004, the DMK fielded V Radhika Selvi, wife of Venkatesa Pannaiyar from Thoothukudi district who was shot dead by a Chennai Police team at an apartment in upscale Nungambakkam the previous year under the AIADMK government led by J Jayalalithaa.

The “encounter” – Pannaiyar’s family maintained that he was unarmed by contradicting the police version – created headlines with Jayalalithaa being forced to remove then Chennai Police Commissioner K Vijay Kumar, though belatedly.

Selvi, who joined the DMK despite her entire family owing allegiance to the AIADMK, campaigned with her infant son, riding on sympathy for her husband’s death, and eventually won the Tiruchendur Lok Sabha seat by a comfortable margin.

Since she belonged to the dominant Nadar community spread across southern Tamil Nadu, the then DMK chief M Karunanidhi made her a Union Minister of State in the UPA-I government in 2007 after Dayanidhi Maran was forced to resign as a Cabinet minister. However, she was not given a seat in 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

In its 2017 judgement, the Madras High Court came down on the investigating agencies for mishandling the case; it also noted that the probe should have been transferred to the CBI or CB-CID due to the hierarchy issues and lack of independence.

By fielding Porkodi, the AIADMK believes it can tap into the Dalit votes in north Chennai, where Armstrong was a noted figure and popular among youth. Since the AIADMK has not performed well in Chennai in the past few elections, it is believed that the party hopes Porkodi’s candidature might help it get back a section of Dalit votes.

It is also an irony that a few AIADMK sympathizers along with functionaries from the Congress have been jailed for the murder of Armstrong.

Popular film maker Pa Ranjith, who has had close ties with late Armstrong, supporting Porkodi’s candidature has also led to a major row with many questioning how he can lend his support to an alliance that includes the BJP.

Armstrong, who faced several criminal cases in the past and was cleared of them, was a noted figure in north Chennai and was popular among youngsters belonging to the Dalit community. Armstrong was a councillor in the Greater Chennai Corporation.