The Radhapuram Assembly segment, being represented by Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu, a 4-time MLA from this same segment, is witnessing the electoral battle between him and BJP’s candidate S.P. Balakrishnan, while actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam too has fielded its candidate.

Businessman and politician Alfred Vedam Thomas, popularly known as A.V. Thomas, founder of A.V.T. Group in 1925 and doyen of Indian tea industry, was the first MLA of Radhapuram constituency as he, hailing from Azhagappapuram in this segment, got elected to the Assembly in 1957 as Congress candidate. Previously, Thomas, the first Indian to own a tea plantation company, was the MP of erstwhile Srivaikundam Parliamentary constituency as Congress candidate in the 1951 election.

After winning this constituency in the first three Assembly elections, the Congress lost this segment to the DMK in 1971 when V. Karthesan got elected and AIADMK’s Y.S.M. Yousuf won the battle here in 1977.