Tamil Nadu - Vellore   

Cycle rallies mark last day of campaign

VELLORE: Cycle and two-wheeler rallies marked the campaigning by the candidates of the various political parties in the Vellore and Arakkonam Lok Sabha constituencies on Monday, the last day of campaigning for the May 13 general elections.

A cycle and two-wheeler rally was organised by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to canvass support for the Arakkonam DMK candidate S. Jagathrakshakan in Walajapet on Monday morning.

The candidate went in an open jeep with folded hands, accompanied by Ranipet MLA R. Gandhi behind the campaigning cyclists and two-wheeler riders, and symbolically beseeched the support of the passers-by. Pattali Makkal Katchi candidate for Arakkonam and former Union Minister of State for Railways R. Velu campaigned in Tiruttani, Kaveripakkam (in Sholinghur Assembly segment) and Walajapet (in Ranipet segment) before closing the campaign in Arcot. A visit to the various Assembly segments in the two constituencies revealed that the campaigning was confined to autorickshaw campaigning by party workers in support of the various candidates in the afternoon in view of the intense heat.

After three p.m., the various candidates took to their campaign jeeps again and went to areas uncovered during the earlier part of the campaign period and sought the support of the voters.

In Vellore, L.K.M.B. Vasu, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate for the Vellore constituency, campaigned in an open jeep in Mundy Street, Long Bazaar, Filter Bed Road, Officers’ Line and Katpadi Road in Vellore during the closing hour of campaign on Monday. Earlier in the day, he campaigned in the rural areas of the Anaicut Assembly segment. DMK candidate for Vellore M. Abdul Raghman went in an open jeep, accompanied by Mayor P. Karthikeyan (DMK), Vellore MLA C. Gnanasekharan (Congress) and the DMK district presidium chairman T.A. Mohammed Saqhy and canvassed support in Filter Bed Road, Long Bazaar, Mundy Street and Commissary Bazaar in Vellore in the morning. Cycle rallies were taken out in different parts of the constituency in support of the candidate.

A.K. Rajendran, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for Vellore, also went in an open jeep and campaigned in Allapuram and Thorappadi areas of Vellore during the closing hour of campaign. Going ahead of his jeep was an auto-rickshaw in which party workers were seeking votes for the candidate “to control the prices, nationalise the rivers, eliminate power cuts, ensure uninterrupted supply of cooking gas, crush terrorism, and retrieve the black money of Indians in the Swiss banks”. Shoukath Sherif, candidate of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam closed his campaign in Vaniyambadi Assembly segment after covering areas in and around Alangayam and Kavalur. An Independent candidate, M.P. Natarajan was seen addressing empty chairs and a thin audience comprising children on Fort Round Road during the closing hour.

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