Returning officer M.N. Poongodi chairs the scrutiny of nominations at the Collectorate in Dindigul on Thursday. | Photo Credit: G. KARTHIKEYAN
After prolonged arguments and allegations, the Theni Lok Sabha constituency Returning Officer R.V. Shajeevana announced the nomination of AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran’s as cleared on Thursday.
When the nominations were taken up for scrutiny, the DMK represented by its advocate Nishanth, Bodi former MLA Lakshmanan and AIADMK’s legal wing functionary Ganesan and Naam Tamilar Katchi raised their objections with the officials with regard to Mr. Dhinakaran’s paper.
The allegation was that they were unable to download or view the sworn affidavit of the candidate as prescribed by the EC guidelines. Hence, it should be summarily rejected.
However, the officials explained that due to certain issues in the server, there were hiccups and that it could be downloaded or viewed now. Amidst tense moments, the officials gave time and adjourned the announcement till 3 p.m. Finally, the Returning Officer declared that the nomination of Mr. Dhinakaran was accepted along with those of the DMK, AIADMK, NTK and independents.
Advocate Raja Senthoor Pandian representing Mr. Dhinakaran said that the opponents were bent upon creating trouble and that their charges had no base at all.
During the scrutiny of the nominations filed for Theni constituency, 29 out of 43 were accepted.
Dindigul
Dindigul Returning Officer M.N. Poongodi in a press release stated that out of 35 nominations received, 18 were accepted and the rest rejected due to various reasons.
Sivaganga
Raising objections to the nomination of BJP candidate T. Devanathan Yadav, DMK functionary Sengaimaran, representing Congress candidate Karti Chidambaram, at the scrutiny said that the BJP candidate had mentioned his position as founder of Indiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhagam and that he was not a cardholder of the party. Hence, the paper should be rejected.
As there was opposition to this and the BJP representative showed that the party had given the official symbol in the prescribed format, things looked inconclusive.
At this juncture, some officials insisted the media persons to leave the hall claiming that Returning Officer Asha Ajith had directed so. However, when media persons insisted that they shall remain, confusion prevailed and finally the journalists left the hall.
The officials later said that out of 28 nominations received, 21 were accepted.
Ramanathapuram
In Ramanathapuram, 56 nominations were received, including those from the independents. Upon scrutiny, the officials rejected 28 and accepted 28 papers.
Apart from the IUML candidate (ally of the DMK), the officials cleared the papers of the AIADMK.
The nomination of former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, who is contesting as an Independent, was cleared. Interestingly, five other papers with the same name of Panneerselvam were also accepted during scrutiny.
