A sitting Parliamentarian’s quest to retain a coastal, industrial constituency

Thoothukudi Lok Sabha constituency profile, candidates, and key issues in the 2019 election, including DMK leader Kanimozhi's victory.

Ten years after its creation, following a delimitation, the politically nondescript Thoothukudi Lok Sabha constituency achieved a high-profile status in 2019 when DMK leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi entered the fray against BJP leader and former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan.

Events such as protests against the Sterlite Copper plant and the police firing that killed 13 protestors, changed the constituency’s profile.

A coastal belt with a number of industries, the constituency is well-known for its fishing and manufacturing units, and the V.O. Chidambaranar Port. With boundaries falling under four districts before delimitation, Thoothukudi, formerly Tiruchendur constituency, comprises six Assembly segments – Thoothukudi, Tiruchendur, Srivaikuntam, Ottapidaram, Vilathikulam and Kovilpatti. DMK candidates won here in 2009 and 2019, and an AIADMK candidate in 2014.

In 2009, DMK’s S.R. Jeyadurai defeated AIADMK’s Cynthia Pandian by a margin of 76,000 votes. In 2014, J. Jayasingh Thiyagaraj Natterjee of the AIADMK emerged victorious, defeating DMK’s P. Jegan by a margin of 1.24 lakh votes.

Ms. Kanimozhi, who had earlier represented the DMK in the Rajya Sabha, entered the fray from here in 2019. Her status as the daughter of DMK leader M. Karunanidhi; the anti-Sterlite sentiments; and the police firing at protestors worked in her favour, resulting in her victory. Now Ms. Soundararajan’s decision to opt for the Chennai South constituency has left Thoothukudi with not-so prominent names, apart from Ms. Kanimozhi, and the split in the BJP-AIADMK alliance has reduced the intensity of the campaign.

Sivasami Velumani of the AIADMK, S.D.R. Vijayaseelan of the TMC (Moopanar) and J. Rowena Ruth Jane of the NTK are in the fray.

Ms. Kanimozhi has an advantage over her rivals. Four out of the six Assembly constituencies here are represented by the DMK; one by the Congress, an ally of the DMK; and one by the AIADMK. Two Ministers – Anitha R. Radhakrishnan and P. Geetha Jeevan – represent Assembly segments in this constituency. Hindus account for 72% of the population in this constituency, Christians 21% and Muslims 7%. The predominant caste is Nadars, followed by a considerable proportion of Devendra Kula Vellalars, Devars, and Naickers, among others.