DINDIGUL
Amid so much cacophony about the local body polls, here is a peculiar case in which a man and his wife are contesting the poll for the same post in a Dindigul village. They are among the six candidates in the fray for the post of councillor from Ward No: 1 of Nilakottai Panchayat Union.
Chinnasamy and his wife Chandralekha of Bangalapatti village are contesting for the post that is reserved for Scheduled Caste (general) category. Mr. Chinnasamy is contesting in ‘Matchbox’ symbol while Ms. Chandralekha has been allotted ‘Globe’ symbol.
As news spread about the couple, there was confusion and curiosity among voters and even election conducting officials. An official, requesting anonymity, initially denied any such occurrence of a couple contesting for the same post and then gave a vague reason for it.
However, Mr. Chinnasamy said it was due to an unavoidable situation that he and his wife ended up being on the final list of candidates. “Initially, my wife filed nomination as a substitute for my candidature. However, both of our nominations were accepted after scrutiny and we decided to withdraw my wife’s nomination,” he says. But that was when the twist c came.
“On the last day for withdrawal of nominations, a candidate from an established political party urged and forced independent candidates to withdraw. But some of the independents refused and there was chaos in the village. Finally, when we all agreed to withdraw, we found that the union office was locked well before 5 p.m. and we could not withdraw her nomination,” he said.
“So, the nominations of both me and my wife remained valid and both of our names appeared on the final list. We see it as a God-given opportunity, in which we both have a chance to win. We will be happy if either of us win the election and our aim is to do good for the people of our village,” said Mr. Chinnasamy, who goes about popularising the ‘Matchbox’ symbol, while his wife seeks votes for the ‘Globe’ symbol.
