P. Iniyan, who represents the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) resorted to alms-seeking before the public to collect money for paying the deposit to contest the Parliamentary election from the Theni Constituency. He filed his papers on Friday.
Wearing a torn shirt, mended with patches of cloth, he sought alms in the town to collect money enough to pay his deposit. “I have no money to pay the deposit amount of Rs.12,500. So I took to alms-seeking,” he said.
Condemning the Election Commission for fixing such a huge deposit amount, Mr. Iniyan, who came to the Collectorate to file nominations, said more than 70 per cent of the people in the country were living below poverty line. “How can poor people contest the election? The Election Commission had revised the deposit amount to Rs.25,000. Poor candidates cannot contest owing to the hefty deposit amount,” he pointed out.
