J. Venkatesan

and V. Venkatasubramaniam

CHENNAI: A total of 20 candidates are in the fray for the Kancheepuram by-election and 16 candidates for the Gummidipoondi by-election after the last date for withdrawal of nominations.

Though 27 nominations were received for the Kancheepuram constituency, it came down to 22 on April 26 after the rejection of the nomination of an Independent and four dummy candidates of registered political parties. The New Justice Party candidate, D. Venkatesa Mudaliar, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate, K. Narayanamurthy withdrew their papers on Thursday.

In Gummidipoondi, 22 nominations were received and after scrutiny it came down to 19 with the rejection of nominations filed by three dummy candidates of registered political parties. Later, three independents — S. Natarajan, J.G. Bairavi and K. Ravi — withdrew their nominations, official sources said.

After finalising the list of candidates, election symbols were allotted to 16 candidates contesting as Independents for the Kancheepuram seat and 13 for the Gummidipoondi seat.

The list of contesting candidates at Gummidipoondi: K.S. Vijayakumar (All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam); P. Venkatachalapathy (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam); K. Baskaran (Janata Dal-United); and K. Padmarajan, G. Venkatesan, S. Kandasamy, G. Gopal, S. Yasurathinam, M.S. Subramani, R. Venkatesan, U. Thenmozhi, L. Loganathan, A. Pasam, S. Vijayakumar, A. Rajendran and E. Marimuthu (all Independents).

The list of contesting candidates at Kancheepuram: T. Mythili (AIADMK); M. Kumar (DMK); N. Elanchezhian (JD-U); Su. Chidambaram (Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha); and K. Padmarajan, Vanur Kanagaraj alias Vanur Inbaraj, M. Manmathan, A.V. Radhakrishnan, D. Mayan, T. Loganathan, R. Balavinayagam, S. Nandakumar, K. Ravi, D. Karthikeyan, K. Arunachalam, V. Radhakrishnan, R. Shankar, S. Kumar, S. Manikandan and S. Mamallan (all Independents).

Opposition MPs' demands

Meanwhile, 29 Opposition MPs from Tamil Nadu urged the Election Commission to deploy adequate Central forces within the polling stations in the Kancheepuram and Gummidipoondi Assembly constituencies to ensure free and fair elections.

A delegation of MPs — 26 from the Lok Sabha and three from the Rajya Sabha, representing the DMK, Congress, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India — met the Chief Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishnamurthy and Election Commissioners, B.B. Tandon and N. Gopalaswamy in New Delhi on Thursday. They presented a memorandum urging the commission to provide adequate protection to the Opposition candidates and their agents.

The MPs citing earlier instances of rigging in local body elections said: "The ruling party is planning to repeat the hooliganism during these by-elections also, so as to ensure [the] victory of [the] AIADMK candidates in these two constituencies by unfair means." It urged the commission to bar the entry of State Cabinet Ministers into the constituencies and prevent the usage of State official machinery by the ruling party.

Demanding deployment of Central Reserve Police Force personnel to all the polling stations, it said that the forces should inspect the booths throughout the polling day. The para-military forces should be given enough powers to frisk people entering the booths to check if they were carrying weapons. The memorandum demanded the deployment of more Central observers in the two constituencies. It urged the commission to ensure proper protection in the State during the by-elections, keeping in mind the failure of the State police to protect genuine voters against the atrocities of the ruling party during the municipal elections.

It also wanted the commission to take immediate legal action against those who produced bogus certificates, such as community certificates and ration cards, in the polling booths. It said the presiding officers should verify the identification of the voters and that they should not yield to the pressure of the ruling AIADMK in this regard. If the presiding officers did not act according to the election rules, they should be removed from the polling booths.

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