All India Anna Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader O Panneerselvam, commonly known as OPS, contested the Tamil Nadu Assembly election from the Bodinayakanur seat.
The Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister is contesting against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) Thanga Tamilselvan.

Tamilselvan joined the DMK after he sided
with VK Sasikala-TTV Dhinakaran in AIADMK’s power tussle following the death of
party supremo J Jayalalithaa.

Also read: Tamil Nadu Assembly Election: 13.80% voter turnout recorded till 9am

Political career

Panneerselvam started his political career as a worker in the then united DMK. He joined the AIADMK after the party
split in 1972. He served as the municipal chairman of Periyakulam from 1996 to 2001.

He was given an Assembly ticket in 2001 and contested from Periyakulam, which he
won. He got re-elected from the seat in 2006. He won the succeeding Assembly
elections in 2011 and 2016 from Bodinayakanur, the seat he is contesting from
in 2021.

Stints as the CM

Panneerselvam had three stints as Tamil
Nadu’s CM, in all instances, to fill up for Jayalalithaa. He first became CM
for six months, from September
2001 to March 2002, after Jayalalithaa had to
step down on Supreme Court’s order.

He again became the CM in September 2014
after Jayalalithaa was convicted in a disproportionate assets case. He resigned in May, next year and the
party supremo was again sworn in as the CM after the Karnataka High Court
acquitted her in the case.

Following the death of Jayalalithaa, Panneerselvam became the CM in September 2016 but
had to step down following raids by central agencies on mining baron Sekar
Reddy that led to alleged evidence against him. The Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI), in its probe, couldn’t find anything, hence the case was
closed.

Meanwhile,
in 2017, Edappadi Karuppa Palaniswami became the CM and Panneerselvam
is serving as his deputy.