AIADMK to interview ticket aspirants on Thursday

After launching seat-sharing talks with allies, Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK will interview party functionaries who have expressed interest to contest the April 6 assembly elections in a single day on Thursday. The interviews will also be held on the same day for those who have evinced interest to contest polls in Puducherry and Kerala.

Party coordinator O Panneerselvam and deputy coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami said in a statement that the interviews will take place on March 4. The party had on Monday announced that the last day for collecting applications to contest the assembly polls will be March 3 instead of March 5 as announced earlier.

The aspirants will be questioned about the party's strength in their respective constituencies and chances of victory. When J Jayalalithaa was alive, the interviews would be conducted by a three or five-member team after which the candidate list will be announced.

The move from the AIADMK comes as it has accelerated the process to finish the seat-sharing arrangement with allies. While a pact has been concluded with PMK, negotiations with BJP, DMDK, and TMC are on.

Meanwhile, DMK on Tuesday began interviewing ticket aspirants district-wise with party president M K Stalin leading the process. The interviews will go on till March 6.