Dhanabal.R

Dhanabal.R, 45, is contesting from Avanashi (SC) constituency as an independent candidate with declared education of 10th pass and profession listed as 'Knitting Company Employee'. However, web searches suggest this may be P. Dhanapal, who has been the AIADMK MLA from Avanashi since 2001, representing the constituency for over two decades. If confirmed as the same person, this represents a significant political shift - moving from being a long-serving AIADMK representative to contesting independently. According to media reports, P. Dhanapal won the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly election with 117,284 votes (55.78% vote share) and the 2016 election with 93,366 votes (48.11%), demonstrating consistent electoral strength in this Scheduled Caste reserved constituency. Reports indicate he was denied the AIADMK ticket for 2026 due to a fallout with party supremo Edappadi K. Palaniswami, forcing him to contest independently. The Avanashi seat has now been allocated to BJP as part of the AIADMK-BJP alliance, with Union Minister L. Murugan as the candidate. The candidate has declared total assets of ₹10.02 lakhs (entirely movable assets with no immovable property) and liabilities of ₹2.8 lakhs, with no criminal cases. If this is indeed the same person as the long-serving MLA, the declared asset value appears unusually low for someone who has held public office for 25 years. No specific developmental work or major achievements were found attributed to the candidate in recent media coverage, though the focus has been primarily on the political contest dynamics rather than governance record. Voters should be aware of the identity confusion between the affidavit details and the established political figure, the reasons behind the party split if confirmed, and the absence of documented achievements despite potentially decades in office. The constituency has 250,346 voters with a significant Arunthathiyar community (SC) presence along with Kongu Vellala Gounder (20-25%) and Naidu (8-10%) communities.