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Salem is perhaps the only Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu where all candidates contesting the April 24 polls are debutants.
The constituency, being held by AIADMK's S Semmalai, shot into the limelight in the aftermath of the murder of Tamil Nadu BJP secretary 'Auditor' Ramesh, a popular figure among the public, a year ago.
AIADMK holds five of the six Assembly segments in this constituency. Vanniyars form 30 to 35 per cent of the vote base, followed by Dalits and a mix of Goudars, Naidus, Thevars, Chettiars and Mudaliars.
Even as BJP workers and public expected the party to contest from here before distribution of tickets to cash in on the sympathy following the murder of Ramesh coupled with Narendra Modi wave, the seat was alloted to DMDK, a key ally of the saffron party in Tamil Nadu.
This had caused some sort of resentment among workers of BJP and PMK, which also wanted to contest from here.
Though PMK leader Dr S Ramdoss had announced he would not campaign in Salem, protesting the BJP-led NDA denying the constituency to his party, his son and Dharmapuri candidate Anbumani Ramadoss campaigned for DMDK candidate L K Sudhish, its youth wing secretary and brother-in-law of party founder Vijayakant.
AIADMK has fielded V Paneerselvam, DMK Umarani, Congress Mohan Kumaramangalam and AAP E Sateesh Kumar.
Though Congress has won the seat seven times with support of the two Dravidian parties in 2009, AIADMK's Semmalai defeated the then sitting Congress MP K V Thangkabalu, by a over 46,000 votes.
Both AIADMK and Congress are fishing in troubled waters, exploiting the perceived bickering in NDA vis a vis BJP and PMK over seat allocation.
Both BJP and PMK have said their workers are not upset about the decision to field Sudhish and want to see Modi as Prime Minister.
