Tuticorin, one of the southern-most districts of Tamil Nadu, has seven assembly constituencies going to the polls on May 8. In Tiruchendur, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is competing with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. In Sathankulam, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is competing against the Congress, which also takes on the AIADMK in Srivaikuntam.
When rediff.com spoke to first-time voters in these constituencies, they did not seem cynical. This, despite the fact that some candidates have unsavoury reputations. One is known for indiscriminate mining of river sand, another is a famous bootlegger and the other is a popular loan shark.
Nonetheless, in these districts, everyone wants to vote.
S Ramalakshmi, a nurse in Chekarakudy village said she would vote for J Jayalalithaa's AIADMK. She was happy with the MLA in hei constituency, who is from the ruling party, and said the roads in her village had been spruced up.
D Rajeshwari, an agricultural worker from Lingathetty village, said that she would vote for the two leaves, which is the AIADMK party symbol. Her mother voted for them, too, she said.
Sister Lavanya and Saranya too are eligible to vote for the first time. But they admitted that in the last Lok Sabha elections they had both cast bogus votes as there were many free votes in their village. They said they would not vote for the DMK candidate as he had never come back to their village after he became an MP.
Since they had attended a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh camp recently, they thought that the Bharatiya Janata Party was the only nationalist party and thus would vote for it.
R Karthiga from Kachnavillai village is a final year college student. She said that she had seen enough of the two Dravidian parties. Thus, she was going to vote for film-star Vijaykanth's party, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam.
M Gomathi and K Sankareshwari work in a petrol pump in Eral. Gomathi said she would vote the two leaves, as she liked Jayalalithaa and Gomathi too wanted to vote for the chief minister, as her father did the same. Familial allegiance seemed important to S Kalaiselvi, too. The rice mill worker is going to vote for the DMK because her family does.
For P Ramesh, whose father died in service as a policeman, the AIADMK seems the only option since the government has provided for his family. He also is certain that if they come back to power, he will get a job in the police force.
S Jagdeshwari of Authoor, who works in a sweet shop, has her own reason for voting for the ruling party. Her younger sister, still in school, recently got a free cycle from the government.
In one of the villages, a convoy of 50 vehicles with flags of the ruling party rushed through the bazaar. A bystander remarked, "They have so much money from sand mining that they can afford so many cars." Another chipped in: "The Opposition is no better - they also are mining sand in the sea."
He was referring to the Sethu Samudram project, which involves dredging the sea. This project, if successfully completed, will benefit the Tuticorin port.
Complete coverage: Tamil Nadu Assembly elections