In a major jolt, the BJP in Tamil Nadu is set to contest one seat less in the Lok Sabha elections than the eight allotted to it in the alliance, as the nomination of its candidate for the Nilgiris was rejected on Monday.
Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar told The Hindu in Chennai that once a nomination was rejected there was no provision for appeal in the election laws. The aggrieved party could approach court with an election petition, but only after elections were completed.
Election officials in Chennai said S. Gurumurthy, the BJP’s candidate for the Nilgiris (reserved for the SC), failed to attach Forms A and B to his papers on time on April 3, 2014. The documents were mandatory as they carried the authorisation from the party of the candidate.
The papers of the alternative candidate, D. Anbarasan, also suffered the same flaw. Mr. Gurumurthy explored the option of contesting as an Independent, but the attempt failed.
In Chidambaram (SC), the nomination of PMK candidate K.I. Manirathinem was rejected as it did not carry the mandatory proposals from 10 persons.
Officials said that as the PMK was not a recognised State party, the 10 proposals were mandatory. However, the nomination of his wife, Sudha Manirathinem, the ‘dummy’ candidate for the party, was accepted.
The nomination of Aam Aadmi Party candidate for Thanjavur Pazhanirajan was rejected on the ground that some of the proposers were from outside the constituency.
Flutter in Sivaganga
S.K. Srivastava, a New Delhi-based IT official, alleged in a petition to the Returning Officer in Sivaganga that Congress candidate Karti Chidambaram had filed a false affidavit in respect of his assets. But at the end of scrutiny, the Returning Officer, V. Rajaraman, found Mr. Karti’s nomination valid and accepted it. However, speaking to journalists, Union Finance Minister and his father P. Chidambaram rejected the charge that Mr. Karti had given false information about his assets in the affidavit.
