Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam candidate for the Pudukottai by-election N. Jahir Hussain filed his nomination papers on Friday, the opening day. The election is scheduled for June 12.
Forty-year-old Mr. Hussain, secretary of the district unit of the party, filed his papers with Muthumari, Revenue Divisional Officer and Returning Officer.
Apart from Mr. Hussain, R. Tharmaseelan and K. Padmarajan (independent) filed their nominations.
Mr. Hussain, accompanied by a large number of DMDK cadre, came in a procession from the party office at Lakshmipuram in the town. En route, he garlanded the statues of M. G. Ramachandran and B. R. Ambedkar. S. Senthilkumar, MLA and Tiruchi south district secretary of the party, district secretaries and cadre from the neighbouring districts of Tiruchi, Thanjavur, Sivagangai and the cadre of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) participated in the procession.
Panneerselvam, deputy secretary of the State Advocates Wing of the DMDK, Srinivasamoorthy, district avaithalaivar and M. Chinnadurai, Pudukottai district secretary of the CPI (M), were present.
The by-poll was necessitated following the untimely death of S. P. Muthukumaran of Communist Party of India in a road accident recently. The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has nominated Karthik V. R. Thondaiman as its candidate. The filing of nominations will close on May 25.
According to Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar, five companies of Central forces were sanctioned for deployment in the by-election. His department had sought 10 companies. The arrival of the five companies was expected shortly.
