Chennai, March 10: Actor turned politician Vijay on Tuesday began interviewing aspirants seeking party tickets for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, marking the start of candidate selection for his party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).
Vijay arrived at the party headquarters in Panaiyur, on the outskirts of Chennai, where he conducted one-on-one interviews with 55 party functionaries who expressed their interest in contesting the Assembly elections, party sources said.
The fledgling party has received more than 4,200 applications from aspirants seeking tickets and has begun scrutinising them before shortlisting candidates for interviews.
TVK Joint General Secretary C. T. R. Nirmalkumar said the party continues to process applications from hopefuls.
“The party continues to receive applications from ticket aspirants and they are being scrutinised,” Nirmalkumar said.
He added that interviews with eligible candidates would be conducted in phases, after which Vijay will announce the final list of candidates.
“After scrutiny and selection of eligible persons, the party will conduct interviews in phases, following which Vijay will announce the candidates,” he said.
The party is planning to field candidates in all 234 Assembly constituencies in the state as it prepares to contest the Assembly election for the first time since its launch on February 2, 2024.
According to party insiders, senior leaders including Bussy Anand, Aadhav Arjuna and Arun Raj are likely to be nominated from the T Nagar, Villivakkam and Tiruchengode constituencies respectively.
TVK is positioning itself as a political alternative to the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the state. Though the party has offered a share in power to potential alliance partners, no political party has joined hands with it so far.
