The Dravida Munnetra Kazagam (DMK) has retained Kanimozhi, the sitting MP from Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi Lok Sabha seat, as its candidate. She is up against R Sivasami Velumani of the AIADMK and SDR Vijayaseelan of the Tamil Manila Congress (Moopanar), which is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Here are five key facts about Canimozhi:

1. Kanimozhi was born on January 5, 1968, the daughter of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi and Rajathi Amar. She is the half-sister of the current Chief Minister MK Stalin. She holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Madras.

2. After working in the media for a period of time, Kanimozhi entered politics for the first time in 2007 and was elected to the Tamil Nadu Federal Assembly. She was re-elected to the upper house of parliament in 2013. During her tenure, she was a member of several important committees, including Health and Family Welfare, Rural Development, Home Affairs and External Affairs.

3. In 2011, Kanimozhi, former telecom minister A Raja and promoters and executives of some of India’s most prominent telecom companies were named in the 2G scam. The 2G trials began a year after state auditors accused Raja of serious irregularities in the allocation of second-generation, or 2G, licenses when he was telecoms minister. Kanimozhi, Raja and others were acquitted in December 2017 after prosecutors failed to prove the charges against them. On March 22, 2024, the Delhi High Court admitted the CBI’s appeal against the acquittal in the 2G case.

4. After serving two consecutive terms in the Federal Assembly, Kanimozhi contested the 2019 general election from the Thoothukudi seat and defeated the BJP candidate Tamilisai Soundararajan by more than 340,000 votes. Within the DMK, she held several leadership positions, including deputy general secretary and secretary of the party’s women’s wing.

5. In addition to his political career, Canimozhi was a published poet. Her literary works include Sigarangalil Uraikiradhu Kaalam, Agathinai, Paarvaigal, Karukkum Marudhaani and Karuvarai Vaasanai. Her poetry has also been translated into English, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada.