Chennai | Makkal Needhi Maiam, an ally of Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK, on Wednesday declared its president Kamal Haasan as its nominee for the June 19 biennial election to the Rajya Sabha.

Seventy-year-old Haasan is all set to become a member of the Upper House for the first time as the DMK, together with its allies, could easily get him elected and three others as well. MNM named its candidate immediately after the DMK's announcement of allocation of an RS seat to the actor-politician-led MNM.

"Your voice (people's voice) will be heard there, it won't be my voice, but your voice," Haasan said in Thiruvananthapuram on him being nominated by his party to the Upper House. Further, he said, "I will speak for you all, that is why I am going there."

The governing council and administrative committee of the MNM, in a meeting presided by party general secretary A Arunachalam, passed a unanimous resolution naming party chief Haasan as its candidate to the Upper House and formally requested support from allies.

Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin congratulated Haasan and said he was happy that the MNM top leader's voice would echo in Rajya Sabha to protect Tamil Nadu's rights, the Constitution and nation's pluralism. Haasan thanked Udhayanidhi for his greetings.

DMK President and Chief Minister M K Stalin announcing the allocation of a Rajya Sabha seat to MNM said it was in conformity with a pact inked with the actor-politician-led party before the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

As six Rajya Sabha members including MDMK chief Vaiko from Tamil Nadu are set to retire in July, the Election Commission announced polls on June 19.

The DMK has named three candidates and the main opposition AIADMK, which is expected to announce two candidates could get elected the two nominees with support from allies including the BJP.

Though DMDK had claimed that the AIADMK assured it of one RS seat, it was not confirmed by the Dravidian party and it remains to be seen if the AIADMK would field two candidates or allot one seat to an alliance partner. A contest is unlikely and all the official nominees of the parties are likely to be declared elected.

Haasan joined Tamil Nadu's political scene by launching the Makkal Needhi Maiam on February 21, 2018 in Madurai and he was 63-year old at that time.

He batted for "centrism", signified by his party's name "Maiam," and supported the Dravidian ideology, the Left principles and often hailed reformist leader 'Periyar' EV Ramasamy and Mahatma Gandhi's ideals.

However, his party found it pretty tough to make a real impact in the state's electoral politics dominated by the two Dravidian giants, the DMK and AIADMK.

In its political journey, MNM drew a blank in civic polls held in 2022 and could not win any seats in other elections including the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Haasan himself was defeated by BJP's Vanathi Srinivasan in Coimbatore South Assembly constituency in 2021 Assembly polls.

Following the defeat in 2021, a string of senior leaders including then vice president R Mahendran and former IAS officer Santhosh Babu deserted MNM. Mahendran later joined the DMK.

An undeterred Haasan famously declared at that time that he would be in politics till such time he was alive. He also said that his party, the MNM, would exist till such time there was politics.

Ahead of the 2024 LS polls, MNM struck a poll deal with the DMK and Haasan's party was assured by the Dravidian party of a RS seat in 2025. MNM was, however, not allotted any seat by the DMK in the 2024 LS polls.

A native of Ramanthapuram district in southern Tamil Nadu, Haasan is renowned for his unparalleled acting skills, talent, innovation and cinema knowledge.

He is hugely popular as a cinema star in Tamil Nadu ever since he debuted in 'Kalathur Kannamma' (1960) as a child artist.

On July 24, 2025, six Rajya Sabha members from Tamil Nadu; PMK's Anbumani Ramadoss, MDMK top leader Vaiko, DMK's 3 members (M Shanmugam, M Mohamed Abdulla and P Wilson) and AIADMK's N Chandrasegharan are set to retire.

Out of the six seats, based on its strength and that of its allies in the State Assembly, DMK could easily win four seats and main opposition AIADMK could win two seats, with support from allies including the BJP.

In 2019, at the time of the election of Anbumani Ramadoss and Vaiko to Rajya Sabha, PMK and MDMK were allies of the AIADMK and DMK respectively.