The infrastructure-starved Tirunelveli Assembly segment which faced the past 14 Assembly polls with a lot of promises from its MLAs in the past is gearing up to face yet another election.
Dusty narrow streets, roads further narrowed down by encroachments, no step taken for laying broader roads, improper drainage channels and free flow of drainage into channels carrying water for irrigation from the Tamirabharani continue to be eye sore of this town.
While religion plays a major role in the voting pattern in elections in the Kanniyakumari district, the caste factor decides the winners in the districts of Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi. The constituency has 33,000 voters of Thevar community, followed by Pillai (32,000) and Yadhava (18,000).
While the DMK has fielded A.L.S. Lakshmanan, sitting MLA, from the Pillai community, the AIADMK-BJP combine has nominated Nainar Nagenthran, State vice-president of the national party, who belongs to Thevar community.
Interestingly, the AMMK, which is expected to make inroads in the vote bank of the AIADMK, has fielded Paul Kannan from Yadhava community. Since the AMMK, led by T.T.V. Dhinakaran, is expected to enjoy the overwhelming backing of Thevar community voters as it had in the local body elections, Mr. Paul Kannan is likely to get the support of the Yadhava and Thevar voters.
However, getting the votes of 22,000 Muslim voters living in Pettai and Tirunelveli Town areas for Mr. Paul Kannan is likely to be daunting task even though the AMMK has firmed up electoral alliance with Social Democratic Party of India.
“Since the BJP has deployed its candidate (Mr. Nainar Nagenthran) in Tirunelveli, the Muslim voters will certainly back the DMK candidate, who has no bad name in the constituency despite the SDPI’s alliance with the AMMK,” says ‘Minnal’ Mohamed Ali, a MDMK functionary from Maanur.
The SC voters may support Puthiya Thamizhagam candidate as the outfit founded by K. Krishnasamy has been forced to face the Assembly poll without any alliance after being shown the door by the AIADMK.
Political analyst Surya Xavier says the PT had been silently moved out of the alliance without like the Chirag Paswan episode in Bihar. “Since the SC voters will never support the AIADMK, the PT has been moved out of this alliance. If Mr. Nagenthran faces the election as AIADMK candidate and without any ties with the BJP, he’d be the winner. Even though the constituency is favourable to the AIADMK, its alliance with the BJP plays the spoilsport and it will be advantage for DMK in Tirunelveli,” he says.
Though this constituency, with 50% of voters in rural areas, is all set to go in for the 15th Assembly poll, some issues still remain unattended. Even as the existing narrow roads are in the worst shape after these stretches were dug for the Ariyanayagipuram Drinking Water Scheme, which is being executed to take the surface water from the check-dam at Ariyanayagipuram to the Tirunelveli Corporation, the long-pending demand for the execution of ring road to connect Thathanooththu on north of Tirunelveli with Ponnaakudi on the south of the town via the western parts of the town still gathering dust.
Moreover, the plan to connect South Bypass Road in Palayamkottai and Abhishekapatti via the fields still remains only on paper. Consequently, Tirunelveli Town experiences the worst traffic snarls throughout the day.
“The irrigation channels passing through this segment and the irrigation tanks should be desilted completely. Concrete lining should be provided in the channels while infrastructure should be created to check mixing up of sewage in the Tamirabharani water flowing through these channels,” says Mr. Mohamed Ali, also a fertilizer trader.
The Kandigaiperi Hospital should be upgraded with more facilities.
