City: Chennai

With the 2024 Lok Sabha elections around the corner, the candidates contesting in the polls are busy campaigning to garner votes. Every one of them makes their poll promises during these campaigns, but very few of these are fulfilled in reality. Voters in the city want pending issues to be addressed. Meanwhile, various civic groups in the city have a plethora of demands that they are putting forward for the political parties and their candidates representing the different constituencies in Chennai. Here are a few such demands that the civic groups in Chennai would like to highlight for the progress…

Chennai North is a Lok Sabha constituency composed of the assembly segments including Royapuram, Kolathur, T.V.K.Nagar, Perambur, Thiruvottiyur and Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar. This constituency elected its first Member of Parliament in 1957. The incumbent MP is Dr. Kalanidhi Veeraswamy. Chennai North is not only home to many red-category industries that stretch from North Chennai through Manali to Ennore but also hosts the city’s largest garbage dump — Kodungaiyur dump yard. The constituency has two coal-fired power plants and their ash dumps, coal stacking yards, a 10.5 million tonnes/year petroleum refinery, dozens of petrochemical industries, fertiliser plants, three large ports and…

One of the three Lok Sabha constituencies representing the city, Chennai South comprises localities maintained by two different civic bodies: Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and Tambaram Corporation. And thus, the issues prevailing in the constituency are also contrasting. While the localities under Tambaram Corporation are grappling with the lack of basic amenities, those under GCC require improvement in the amenities provided decades ago. Sholinganallur is one of the largest assembly constituencies, with a voter base of six lakh. Chennai South constituency boasts a highly educated populace, with a significant presence of IT industries and educational institutions. Unique to this area…

Thamizhachi Thangapandian, also known as Sumathy, hails from Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu. She is contesting for the second time in the Lok Sabha elections representing the DMK party in the Chennai South constituency.A poet, writer, educationist and theatre person, Thamizhachi entered politics following the footsteps of her father late V Thangapandian, who was a minister in the DMK government under M Karunanidhi. She has a Ph.D. in English Literature and was educated at Thiagarajar College of Arts & Science, Madurai Kamarajar University, Madurai and University of Madras, Chennai. In 2019, Thamizhachi contested from the Chennai South constituency and won…

As India gets ready to vote to decide who will represent the country in Parliament, Citizen Matters is speaking to elected representatives from Chennai, ahead of the Lok Sabha 2024 elections. As part of this series, we had a chat with Kalanidhi Veerasamy, incumbent MP from Chennai North constituency. Dr Kalanidhi has been given the ticket by his party DMK to contest from the same constituency in the 2024 polls. Read more: Lok Sabha 2024: Know your MP — Dr Kalanidhi Veerasamy, Chennai North Chennai North and Dr Kalanidhi Veerasamy The Lok Sabha constituency of Chennai North is composed of six…

Olive Ridley turtles released at Besant Nagar beach in Chennai The cute little creatures making their way through the sand and into the sea along the Chennai coast is a beautiful sight to watch for beach goers. Forest Department officials released around 10,000 newborn Olive Ridley turtles into the sea at the Besant Nagar beach on Monday. The Tamil Nadu coast is an important nesting site for these turtles. According to the Forest Department, nesting of the Olive Ridley turtles had been adversely affected following the Cyclone Michaung, which lashed the Chennai coast in December last year. But this year,…

A little white disc flies through the air; chased by many, and caught deftly by a girl, who then sends it whizzing across the sandy shore. This is a scene that often unfolds along Chennai's Besant Nagar beach, next to the red police booth. The vast, open space afforded by the beach sets the stage for a fun sport, involving a 175g white disc. Ultimate Frisbee is fast-paced, involving seven players from each team on opposite sides of the field, throwing the disc to each other, racing to catch it and passing it along to teammates. The most popular format…

The three-time Member of Parliament (MP) from the Chennai Central constituency, Dayanidhi Maran, a prominent member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party is contesting for the Lok Sabha seat for the fourth time. Dayanidhi Maran is the son of former Union Minister Murasoli Maran and the grandnephew of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi. He stepped into Lok Sabha for the first time in 2004, after winning from the Chennai Central constituency. Subsequently, he was re-elected from the same constituency in the 2009 general elections and the 2019 general elections. In 2004, after his first…

Kalanidhi Veerasamy of DMK was elected from Chennai North Constituency in 2019. The son of veteran DMK leader and former state minister Arcot N Veerasamy, he had his debut political journey in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He is a graduate of Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Stanley Medical College, with a specialisation in Plastic Surgery. In 2019, a total of 23 candidates contested from various political parties and as independents from Chennai North constituency, which had a total of 14,87,461 voters. Dr Kalanidhi got 61.85% of the vote share and defeated his nearest rival, Alagaapuram R Mohanraj of DMDK, who…

Lok Sabha elections: GCC chooses 21 disability ambassadors to promote accessible elections In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has chosen persons with disabilities (PwDs) as ambassadors for the 21 disability categories to ensure accessible elections. The problems faced by PwDs were highlighted by the ambassadors during the training programme conducted for the polling officers in Chennai. Accordingly, the GCC has also planned to ferry the PwDs to polling stations through a mobile van service. As part of the voting exercise, the GCC has planned to take the mobile vans with a model electronic voting machine to the…