2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly election: Kamal Haasan to contest from Chennai’s Velachery?

Actor-politician Kamal Haasan is likely to test his electoral waters from this metropolis with Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) leaders suggesting that he contest from Velachery, a constituency where majority voters are middle or upper-middle class, in the 2021 Assembly elections.

Sources said that Velachery, which has more than three lakh voters, has been identified for the MNM president.

Read: May join hands with Rajini if ideologies converge: Kamal Haasan

“Senior leaders in the party and other office-bearers feel Velachery is the right choice for Kamal Haasan to make his electoral debut. A formal proposal has been made to our party president in this regard. But the final decision rests with him,” a source said, on condition of anonymity.

Kamal Haasan, who did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, had on Monday announced that he will test his electoral fortunes during the April-May Assembly polls. However, he refused to divulge the name of the constituency.

Velachery Assembly constituency, which came into being in 2011 after the delimitation exercise, has a sizable chunk of IT professionals, middle and upper-middle class voters. Besides, Velachery and a few areas in the constituency are a favourite for retired government employees, to whom Kamal Haasan’s policies and his charisma may be amenable, the leaders feel.

Read: Kamal Haasan praises 'Yusuf Khan,' says Indian democracy is 'ill'

MNM leaders told DH that Kamal Haasan strikes a chord with urban voters, who had voted in considerable numbers for party candidates in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The party had scored more than one lakh votes each in four Parliamentary constituencies — Chennai (North), Chennai (South), Sriperumbudur, and Coimbatore.

In Velachery, which comes under Chennai (South), MNM candidate R Rangarajan had polled 23,099 votes. In all, MNM had polled 15.76 lakh votes in its debut elections in 2019, scoring to 3.72%.

“Urban voters are our base and it is only fitting that the party’s chief ministerial face contests from an urban constituency. It is youngsters and first-time voters who yearn for a change and freshness more than others. Velachery is the home for many IT professionals and they may express their confidence in Kamal Haasan if he contests from there,” the source explained.

Velachery, which is currently represented by DMK’s ‘Vagai’ Chandrashekar, is prone to flooding and several localities come under the water during heavy rains. Several upscale areas like Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, Besant Nagar and Sashtri Nagar are part of the constituency that houses the affluent, middle class and upper-middle class voters.