Posters of Kamala Harris have been erected in Thulasendrapuram, the village where her maternal grandparents were born, as the US vice president is set to take on Donald Trump for the presidency.

Footage shows prayers being held at the village's Dharma Sastha Temple where locals wished good fortune for Harris.

Kamala Harris' posters put up in her native Tamil Nadu village, prayers organised for her win

Special prayers were conducted at the Dharma Sastha Temple in Painganadu-Thulasendrapuram village, from where Kamala Harris’ grandfather hailed, as the US vice-president appeared the frontrunner to clinch the Democratic Presidential candidature after incumbent Joe Biden pulled out of the race.

Residents of the village, 350 km from Chennai, who celebrated Harris’ election as VP in 2020 by drawing rangolis in front of their homes and conducting mass feeding programs, held a special pooja between 9:30 am to 10:00 am on Monday. The villagers are likely to hold special poojas everyday till the Democratic party’s official candidate for the US Presidential election is announced.

We are very happy that the granddaughter of P V Gopalan, Kamala Harris, is the US Presidential nominee. We organised special poojas to pray that she is able to get the nomination and eventually triumph against Donald Trump,” says one of the villagers

Names of Kamala Harris and her maternal uncle Balachandran Gopalan figure prominently in the list of people who donated Rs 5,000 each for the temple’s renovation. The temple management regularly sends vibudhi (sacred ash) and kumkum to Balachandran and Sarala Gopalan, Harris’ aunt, and invites them for festivals.

Though having migrated from the village long back, the Gopalan family had never lost touch with the village, having been contributing money to the temple's consecration and other festivals.

Kamala Harris and her sister had accompanied Dr Shyamala to Chennai often to meet their grandparents at their home in upscale Besant Nagar. Gopalan had taken them for a walk on Elliot's Beach in Besant Nagar.