It is an acid test for former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, contesting from Bodinayakkanur for the fourth consecutive election. But there is a difference this time — instead of the AIADMK’s Two Leaves symbol, with which he was associated for over three decades, he is contesting on the Rising Sun symbol of the DMK, the very party against which the  AIADMK was founded.

While his supporters are at pains to highlight the circumstances that compelled him to switch to the DMK, the ruling party workers are yet to embrace him in a big way.