Having tasted victory in all the four Assembly elections held from 2001, the AIADMK hopes to continue its winning streak at Udumalpet Assembly constituency with the renomination of Minister of Animal Husbandry Udumalai K. Radhakrishnan.
Mr. Radhakrishnan won in Udumalpet constituency in 2016 with a margin of 5,687 votes. However, his victory margin was lower when compared to that of incumbent Assembly Speaker Pollachi V. Jayaraman, who won with a margin of 44,560 votes from Udumalpet in 2011. Former AIADMK Minister C. Shanmugavelu won in 2006 and 2001 from Udumalpet Assembly constituency.
The incumbent Animal Husbandry Minister will face K. Thennarasu from Congress, who has been fielded from the DMK front for Udumalpet constituency that has an electorate of nearly 2.7 lakh voters.
A verdant constituency situated close to the Western Ghats, Udumalpet is also one of the oldest constituencies in Tiruppur district which has seen 15 Assembly elections since 1952. The constituency has a Government Arts College established in 1971 and the construction works for Veterinary College and Research Institute at Pannaikinaru village in Udumalpet taluk are under way.
CPI(M)’s urban secretary for Udumalpet K. Dhandapani alleged that many promises made during 2016 Assembly elections were not kept, such as expansion of Udumalpet Bus Terminus and improvement of facilities at Udumalpet Government Hospital. He also alleged poor maintenance of underground drainage and roads in the municipality limits.
In November 2020, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami announced during his visit to Tiruppur that the State government will allocate ₹50 crore for Udumalpet Municipality to improve the infrastructure of the historically important town. According to the municipal officials, the municipality received funds totalling ₹48.81 crore from the State government and the works to provide additional infrastructural facilities began on February 24.
According to tribal rights activist S. Thanraj, about 15 tribal settlements are present in Udumalpet within the Anamalai Tiger Reserve.
However, basic facilities such as roads, electricity, drinking water, education and healthcare have not been accessible to the tribal people. He gave the example of C. Sreedevi, a girl from Poochukottamparai tribal settlement who goes to Thrissur in Kerala for her education and scored an ‘A-plus’ in the Kerala SSLC examinations held in 2020. “The educational aspirations of other girls like her are being lost,” Mr. Thanraj said, owing to the lack of access to schools for tribal children in Udumalpet.
The residents of tribal settlements such as Kurumalai, Kattupatti, Mavaduppu and Kulipatti are still not allowed to vote for local body elections despite multiple representations made to the district administration in the past, Mr. Thanraj said.
Even for Assembly elections, while the settlements are located near Udumalpet taluk, their Assembly constituency would be Kinathukadavu in Coimbatore district, for which adequate transport facilities are not available to them to reach their polling stations, he said.