The CPI(M) and the CPI – constituents of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance – on Friday announced their candidates for the two Lok Sabha constituencies allotted to each of them.

The CPI(M) will field Sahitya Akademi Award-winning writer Su. Venkatesan in Madurai and former MP Natarajan in Coimbatore.

The CPI has chosen to nominate veteran K. Subbarayan for Tiruppur and former three-time MP Selvarasu for Nagapattinam.

Mr. Venkatesan has been a member of the CPI(M) for nearly three decades and had won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2011 for his debut novel Kaaval Kotam, which traces six centuries of Madurai’s history. He was at the forefront of the voices demanding the continuation of archaeological excavation at Keezhadi.

Mr. Natarajan, who represented Coimbatore in Parliament during 2009-14, had spent the entire ₹19 crore from his MP Local Area Development fund on development projects.

Mr. Subbarayanwas the Tiruppur MLA twice (1985-1988 and 1996-2001) and Coimbatore MP from 2004 to 2009. He told The Hindu that Tiruppur constituency, which extends from Bargur to the Coimbatore border, has agriculture and small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) as the two main sources of livelihood for the people. “Both the sectors saw a decline under the Modi government. My focus will be on the welfare of the workers in the industries, the SMEs and the farmers,” he said.

(With inputs from Sanjay Vijayakumar in Chennai, Pon Vasanth B.A in Madurai, M. Soundariya Preetha in Coimbatore and V. Venkatasubramanian in Thanjavur)

*This article has been corrected for a factual error.