With filing of nominations ending on Wednesday, the papers of candidates of major political parties, which were taken up for scrutiny on Thursday, were accepted by the Returning Officers across the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies in southern Tamil Nadu — Madurai, Dindigul, Theni, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari.
The general election to the Lok Sabha has been scheduled for April 19 in Tamil Nadu in the first phase and the filing of the nominations commenced on March 20. The last date for withdrawal of nomination is March 30.
While the DMK has fielded Kanimozhi again in Thoothukudi, the Congress (an ally in the INDIA front) has given yet another opportunity to Karti Chidambaram to contest in Sivaganga, Vijay Vasanth in Kanniyakumari and Manickam Tagore in Virudhunagar. CPI (M)‘s sitting MP Su. Venkatesan is contesting for the second time in Madurai and K. Navas Kani of the IUML is contesting against in Ramanathapuram.
While AMMK coordinator T.T.V. Dhinakaran is contesting in Theni with the backing of the BJP, former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam had filed his nomination in Ramanathapuram as an Independent with the support of the BJP.
Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Pon. Radhakrishnan is contesting in Kanniyakumari, and late leader and founder of the DMDK Vijayakanth’s elder son Vijaya Prabakaran is trying his luck in Virudhunagar, where Radikaa Sarathkumar has been fielded as BJP candidate. WIN TV owner T. Devanathan Yadav is the BJP candidate in Sivaganga.
The ROs of all the 10 Lok Sabha constituencies scrutinised the nominations in the presence of General Observers appointed by the Election Commission of India and the representatives of the candidates.
Theni
Contestants of major parties, including the DMK, AIADMK and the Naam Tamilar Katchi, objected to the nomination of Mr. Dhinakaran, saying his affidavit was not uploaded on the website.
However, after it was informed that the sworn affidavit was indeed uploaded, the officials adjourned the decision till 3 p.m., during which time, it was announced as accepted.
Tirunelveli
The Congress has fielded Robert Bruce in Tirunelveli as its candidate. However, senior functionary and former MP Ramasubbu, who filed his papers on Wednesday, announced that he would withdraw his nomination before March 30. During the scrutiny, Mr. Ramasubbu’s papers were rejected due to non-submission of Form B. The NTK objected to the nomination of BJP candidate Nainar Nagendran, but the objection was overruled.
Ramanathapuram
Mr. Panneerselvam, who is contesting as an Independent in Ramanathapuram, had sought one of the three symbols: bucket, grapes or jackfruit. Meanwhile, five other namesakes (O. Panneerselvam) filed nominations in the constituency. The former CM’s son accused the AIADMK high command of allegedly trying to create confusion among the voters, and said his father would win hands down in Ramanathapuram.
