Seven women were among the 83 candidates who filed their papers with the respective Returning Officers across the State for the May 16 Assembly polls on the first day of filing nominations on Friday.
As for the 16 Assembly constituencies spread across Chennai, five candidates filed their nominations. Three of them intend to contest from Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar where Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa will be contesting. An interesting observation was that S. Kandasamy of monthly magazine Vigadakavi , who filed his nomination for Villivakkam constituency, paid the entire security deposit of Rs. 10,000 in coins of Rs. 5 and Rs. 10 denomination.
The independent candidate, who had contested from the same constituency in 2006 and from Kolathur in 2011, carried the bag of coins weighing 7.75 kg to the Returning Officer’s office.
The candidate wants to bring about infrastructural change in his area and has decided not to spend more than Rs. 20,000 on his campaign.
Besides Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar, Cuddalore, Cumbum, Kumarapalayam, Pollachi and Salem (North) are the other constituencies where a maximum of three candidates have filed nominations.
Earlier on Friday, the Election Commission (EC) issued a notification for the polls to all the 234 Assembly constituencies.
The polling hours are between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.
As banks would remain closed on Saturday and Sunday, “nominations would not be accepted on these two days,” Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni said.
The filing of nominations is expected to resume on April 25 when star candidates such as Ms. Jayalalithaa and DMK president M. Karunanidhi are expected to file their papers.
Seizure crosses Rs. 30 crore
As on April 22, the total cash seized by officials during regular and random checks was Rs. 30.23 crore, an official release said.
Meanwhile, a total of 124 officers of the Indian Revenue Service have been posted as Expenditure Observers to the State.
Five candidates filed papers for
16 constituencies spread across Chennai
