Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026 | Why Annamalai’s name does not figure in BJP’s list?

Chennai: It took the BJP 10 days to finalise 27 candidates for the April 23 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, an unusual delay for a party known for swift decisions.

The High Command kept delaying finalising candidates as leaders hoped to convince its former state unit chief K Annamalai to contest this time. 

However, Annamalai is learnt to have stood firm, refusing to contest, but promising to campaign for NDA candidates despite intense efforts by BJP seniors in New Delhi. 

As it became increasingly evident that Annamalai, the most charismatic face of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, would not budge, the party released its list on Friday, 10 days after AIADMK had allotted and identified the 27 seats.

Not just Annamalai, the names of many young leaders such as S G Suryah, Vinoj P Selvam, and Ashwathaman were also conspicuously missing in the list, which gave more prominence to veteran leaders. Three of the four sitting MLAs were repeated – two switched seats – while the daughter-in-law of the fourth BJP legislator has been allotted Modakurichi constituency. 

Annamalai has kept a low-profile since stepping down as the TN BJP chief to facilitate the party’s alliance with the AIADMK – the former IPS officer has had several run-ins with Edappadi K Palaniswami, and they don’t share a good rapport. AIADMK may have denied Singanallur for it did not want Annamalai to contest and emerge as challenger to the party in the region. 

He had publicly argued that the BJP would grow in Tamil Nadu only by contesting independently for a few polls without an alliance with Dravidian parties. 

It is also said that the BJP asked for Singanallur, part of the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat where Annamalai finished the runner-up pushing AIADMK to the third spot in 2024, but the Dravidian party refused to allot more than one seat in Coimbatore district – Coimbatore (North) is with the BJP.

On March 25, as the AIADMK and BJP rushed through the process of identifying the seats, Annamalai expressed his displeasure over the constituencies allotted to the party. He is believed to questioned why the BJP agreed to contest in three seats in Pudukkottai district, where it lacks a strong base and asked why strong efforts were not taken to get seats in western Tamil Nadu, where it has a base.

“He (Annamalai) also objected to the seats being finalised in just a day. How was that possible? He felt that everyone was in a hurry to complete the process and hit the ground. Not just him, but many leaders were upset with the way the AIADMK handled the seat-sharing. They first identified seats for the PMK and told us we cannot stake claim for them,” a source told DH.

“The AIADMK said we cannot ask their sitting seats. When there were so many conditions even before the identification began, it is obvious that we won’t get our preferred seats,” the source added. 

As the alloted seats led to an uproar among BJP supporters inside and outside social media, the party did approach the AIADMK for swapping a few seats, but the request was firmly denied. 

Sources told DH that several leaders spoke to Annamalai asking him to contest the elections in the interests of the party, but he was firm. “They felt that the party will get a mileage from its supporters if Annamalai contests. Also, it would send a signal of unity within the NDA,” the sources added.