With the Election Commission (EC) scheduled to issue the formal notification for the Assembly polls on Friday (April 22), nominations would be received from candidates in all 234 Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu as well as in 30 constituencies in Puducherry.
Candidates can file their nominations with a maximum of four persons accompanying them when they submit their papers to the Returning Officer in the respective Assembly constituencies. For the first time, candidates would have to submit three photographs.
A maximum of only three vehicles would be allowed within 100 metres of the Returning Officer’s office when the candidate comes for filing nominations. The asset details of the candidates would be checked by Income Tax officials later.
“The nominations would be accepted between 11 am and 3 pm on working days till April 29. After submitting their nominations, the candidates could take a pledge that they would not give money to voters. However, taking the pledge is not mandatory as it is only an awareness drive,” Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni said. Tamil Nadu is set to witness a five-cornered contest, with the AIADMK, DMK-Congress combine, PWF, including DMDK and TMC, BJP and PMK finalising the seats they intend to contest.
The Chief Ministerial candidates of these political formations are: Jayalalithaa of AIADMK, M. Karunanidhi of DMK-Congress combine, Vijayakant of PWF-DMDK-TMC alliance and Anbumani Ramadoss of PMK. The BJP has not declared its Chief Ministerial candidate yet.
According to the EC, there are 5.79 crore electors in Tamil Nadu and 9.27 lakh in Puducherry and they would vote in 65,616 and 913 polling stations respectively on May 16.
