Kamal Haasan all set to enter Rajya Sabha with support from ally DMK

Actor Kamal Haasan, 70, of the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), is all set to enter Rajya Sabha, courtesy the party's ally and Tamil Nadu's ruling party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

- Divya Chandrababu

CHENNAI:

The DMK on Wednesday announced candidates for the June 19 biennial election to the Rajya Sabha by renominating senior advocate P Wilson and nominating party members Salma, (a poet) and S R Sivalingam (a former minister), chief minister and DMK president MK Stalin said in a statement.

The fourth seat was allocated to Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) as agreed during last year's Lok Sabha elections. MNM chief and actor Kamal Haasan will be the nominee, MNM said in a statement.

The DMK-led coalition, the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in Tamil Nadu has a strength of 159 legislative members in the 234-member assembly. To secure a Rajya Sabha seat, a nominee requires 34 votes. On the basis of its numerical strength in the assembly, the DMK will win four of the six seats for which election is scheduled on June 19, which makes Kamal Haasan's entry into the upper house a certainty.