Chennai, Sept 18:
The electoral field for the October 6 Assembly bypolls in Madurantakam (SC) and Dharapuram (SC) was narrowed down on Thursday, with 49 of the 99 nominations filed in the two constituencies being rejected during scrutiny. A total of 50 nominations have been accepted for now.
In Madurantakam, 48 nominations were filed, of which 20 were rejected and 28 accepted. The accepted nominations include those of TVK’s Maragatham Kumaravel, DMK’s Parandhaman, AIADMK’s Kanitha Sampath, CPM’s Suganthi and NTK’s Janakiraman. In Dharapuram, 51 nominations were filed, with 29 rejected and 22 accepted. The accepted candidates include TVK’s P Sathyabama, DMK’s S Suganya, AIADMK’s K Bhanumathi, CPI’s P Lakshmanan and NTK’s M Karthika. Thirteen Independents have also been cleared to contest in Dharapuram.
Officials said the rejected nominations in both constituencies were mainly due to procedural deficiencies, including incomplete forms, non-submission of mandatory documents, failure to submit affidavits within the prescribed time and discrepancies in polling station numbers mentioned by some proposers.
Saturday is the last date for withdrawal of nominations, after which the final list of candidates will be published. In Madurantakam, officials said two EVMs would have to be deployed at each polling station if the number of candidates remains above the permissible limit for a single machine.
The Madurantakam election officer said flying squads had so far seized cash and other items worth around Rs 8 lakh. Two complaints received through the online grievance mechanism were resolved within 100 minutes. No complaints alleging distribution of cash or gifts to voters have been received so far, officials said.
The Madurantakam bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of AIADMK MLA Maragatham Kumaravel, who later joined TVK and is contesting the bypoll on its ticket. The Dharapuram bypoll followed the resignation of AIADMK MLA P Sathyabama, who subsequently joined TVK and is contesting as the party’s candidate.