Chennai: With the returning officer accepting MDMK general secretary Vaiko’s nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections, DMK nominee N R Elango has withdrawn his papers.
With six Rajya Sabha seats up for grabs from Tamilnadu, the DMK had nominated two candidates: labour leader Shanmugam and advocate P Wilson. While stitching together an alliance during the 2019 general elections, the DMK had promised a Rajya Sabha seat for its partner MDMK.
The MDMK nominated Vaiko for the seat but after that he was convicted in a sedition case and sentenced to one year for the offence. The sentence was suspended for a month to help him go on appeal to a higher court.
Since it was not clear if his nomination papers would be accepted as he had been convicted in a sedition case, Vaiko had suggested to DMK president M K Stalin that they have a back-up nominee.
The DMK nominated advocate N R Elango for the seat and he filed his papers.
But yesterday, Vaiko’s nomination was accepted and he will be returning to the Upper House after 23 years. As a consequence, Elango withdrew his nomination papers today.