The battle of the ballot in the predominantly rural Perambalur Lok Sabha constituency has heated up this election with the entry of K.N. Arun Nehru, the son of K.N. Nehru, the Municipal Administration Minister and the DMK’s strongman from Tiruchi.
It will essentially be a triangular contest with the two Dravidian majors having largely held sway since Era Sezhiyan won here in 1962. The DMK’s young gun is pitted against the AIADMK’s N.D. Chandramohan, a nephew of late DMK Minister N. Selvaraj, who joined the AIADMK towards the fag end of his political career, and Indhiya Jananayaka Katchi (IJK) founder T.R. Paarivendhar, who is contesting his third election from here, this time on a BJP ticket. R. Thenmozhi of the NTK and R. Elangovan of the Bahujan Samaj Party are in the fray.
M. Paarivendhar, the 82-year-old patriarch of the SRM Group of Institutions, will pose a challenge to the DMK and the AIADMK yet again. In 2014, he contested in the seat as part of the BJP alliance and came third, playing spoilsport for the DMK by polling over 2.38 lakh votes. In the previous general election, he switched sides and won handsomely by contesting on the DMK symbol.
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