All six candidates nominated by the DMK, AIADMK and Congress for the Rajya Sabha elections are set to be elected unopposed with the nominations of four Independents being rejected for want of proposals by MLAs.
Assembly Secretary and Rajya Sabha election returning officer M. Selvaraj told reporters that the scrutiny of 10 candidates who had filed nominations for the polls was carried out on Tuesday in the presence of Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta.
Later, the nominations of four Independents were rejected for reasons, including want of proposals by MLAs and non-remittance of deposit amount. Elections will not be held as only six candidates are in the fray for the six seats falling vacant, Mr. Selvaraj said.
The elected candidates would be given certificates on June 10.
The DMK will be represented by T.M. Selvaganapathy, K.P. Ramalingam and S. Thangavelu. The AIADMK will have P.H. Manoj Pandian and K.V. Ramalingam as members in the Upper House. E.M. Sudarshana Nachiappan of the Congress will be re-elected to the Rajya Sabha.
Mr. Nachiappan is a senior advocate with the Supreme Court of India. Educated in Madurai Kamaraj University and Madras Law College, he was a member of the 13{+t}{+h} Lok Sabha and is a sitting Rajya Sabha member.
DMK's T.M. Selvaganapathy is not new to New Delhi. He studied M.A in Jawaharlal Nehru University and LLB in Delhi University. A member of Jayalalithaa's first Cabinet in 1991, he was elected from Salem to the Lok Sabha in 1999.
Last year, Mr. Selvaganapathy left the AIADMK to join the DMK.
Manoj Pandian represented the Cheranmahadevi Assembly constituency in 2001-06. Son of former TN Assembly Speaker P.H. Pandian, he is a practising lawyer in the Madras High Court.
The AIADMK's other candidate K.V. Ramalingam is the Erode city district secretary. After joining the party in 1984, he was elevated as the district secretary in 2006.
K.P. Ramalingam is a veterinary graduate with a B.V.Sc degree from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, and the secretary of the farmers' wing of the DMK for a long time.
DMK's S. Thangavelu was a State Minister in 1989-91. He was with the MDMK, launched by Mr. Vaiko, for sometime, before returning to the DMK.
