A former Karnataka-cadre IAS officer and chief of the Congress’ election war room, S Sasikanth Senthil, will make his electoral debut in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur constituency, with the party renominating Karti P Chidambaram, S Jothimani, and Manickam Tagore from their respective seats.

The Congress party has announced candidates for seven of the nine seats it will contest in Tamil Nadu as members of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in the Lok Sabha elections on April 19. The party renominated five incumbent MPs and granted tickets to two newcomers, while the candidates for Tirunelveli and Mayiladuthurai are yet to be announced.

Vijay Vasanth, son of late H Vasanthakumar of the renowned Vasanth and Co, was renominated for the Kanyakumari constituency, whereas M K Vishnuprasad, son of former TNCC head M Krishnaswamy, was transferred from Arani to Cuddalore Lok Sabha. Karti, the son of former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, will run for re-election from Sivaganga, a family pocket borough; Jothimani from Karur in the western region; and Tagore, the Congress whip in the Lok Sabha, from Virudhunagar.

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K Gopinath replaces incumbent A Chellakumar from Krishnagiri in northern Tamil Nadu, and Senthil takes the position of K Jayakumar. Six of the seven Congress candidates will face the BJP, with only Vishnuprasad standing against the PMK in Cuddalore.

Senthil sought the Tiruvallur (SC) seat specifically since his mother is from the area. The 2009-batch Karnataka cadre officer resigned from the IAS in 2019, citing his inability to remain while “fundamental building blocks of diverse democracy are being compromised” following the re-election of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government.

The former IAS official joined the Congress in 2020 and was one of the people credited with the party’s success in the 2023 Assembly elections since the war room he led developed the winning strategy. Senthil planned to work in Tamil Nadu after his victory, but Congress requested him to work for the Rajasthan elections and appointed him as the head of the Delhi war room for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.