Offices of the returning officers and assistant returning officers of the Tiruchi Corporation witnessed a flurry of activity on Monday, the last day for filing of nominations, as 342 nominations were filed by candidates including those from various political parties for various wards in the city.
A festive atmosphere prevailed around the offices as candidates took out colourful and noisy processions before filing their nominations. A couple of Bharatiya Janata Party candidates even came in a bullock cart to file their nominations. Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam candidate J. Alex turned up in a costume of a ‘king’ to file his nomination for ward 39. “Voters are the kings in a democracy and I just wanted to symbolically highlight this,” he said.
On Monday, 106 nominations were filed for the wards in K.Abishekapuram zone; 84 in Golden Rock; 83 in Ariyamangalam; and 69 in Srirangam zone.
In all, as many as 683 nominations have been filed for the 65 wards of the Corporation. The maximum number of 196 nominations has been filed for Ariyamangalam zone followed by 175 for Golden Rock zone, 169 for K.Abishekapuram and 143 for the wards in Srirangam zone.
On Monday, many of the candidates of People’s Welfare Front constituents filed their nominations. V.Pushpam (ward 55), a former Corporation councillor, R. Sangeetha (ward 57) and I. Kamaal (ward 58) of the Communist Party of India, were among those who filed their papers. Some DMK and Congress candidates also filed their nominations.
Disgruntled members of some of the political parties continued to file their nominations as Independents on being denied tickets by their respective parties. Prominent among them was M. Latha, the sitting councillor and Srirangam zonal chairperson of the AIADMK, who filed her papers as an Independent from ward 1.
The AIADMK has fielded S. Tamilarasi, a former Councillor, in the ward. Ms.Tamilarasi resigned as a councillor after being fielded by the party as its candidate in the Assembly election initially for Tiruchi West. She was later shifted to Tiruchi East but replaced subsequently with Vellamandi N.Natarajan. She has been appeased now with her nomination to the Corporation election again.
Speaking to The Hindu , Ms. Latha said her chances (of getting a ticket) were scuttled by some local party men.
“If Amma had rejected my candidature, I would have had no objection. I am not against the party. But I had put in so much of hard work over the past five years and worked for residents of all the wards in Srirangam zone,” she said and affirmed that she enjoyed people’s support in her ward.
