Chennai: The first day of 2019 started with active political action in Tamilnadu, as the ruling AIADMK and the main opposition DMK have commenced the process of selecting their candidates for the Tiruvarur by-poll to be held on 28 January.
AIADMK has said party cadres who are willing to contest in Tiruvarur can get the application forms on 2 and 3 January after paying Rs 25,000. The forms will be shortlisted on 4 January, the party said.
Similarly, DMK has announced that the interview for the selection of the candidate for the Tiruvarur constituency will be held on 4 January at 5 pm at Anna Arivalayam.
The Election Commission has announced Murugadoss as the Returning Officer for the Tiruvarur by-poll. Nominations will begin 3 January and will continue till 10 January. The last date for withdrawal of submissions is 14 January. Counting will be held on 31 January and the results will be announced on the same day.
Tiruvarur became vacant after the demise of DMK chief M Karunanidhi on 7 August 2018. This will be first election which will be held in the State after the demise of Karunanidhi. The by-poll in Tiruvarur was expected to be held last month along with the Assembly elections of five States.
However, the State government requested to postpone the by-poll citing natural disasters. Following this, the by-election has been announced now. Apart from Tiruvarur, 19 other constituencies are also vacant.
Thiruparankundram became vacant after the demise of AIADMK MLA A K Bose in August 2018. Election has not been announced in this constituency as a case has been filed by DMK’s Saravanan who lost against Bose in the previous election.
MLAs of the remaining 18 constituencies were disqualified by the Speaker as they withdrew their support to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. The Madras High High Court which confirmed the disqualification of the MLAs has given them three months time to further appeal. However, the MLAs said they will face the by-polls.
| MDMK, CPI support DMK |
| MDMK general secretary Vaiko and CPI State secretary R Mutharasan today said their parties will support the DMK in Tiruvarur by-election. |