LS polls: Filing of nominations picks pace, TR Baalu, L Murugan submit papers

A large number of candidates belonging to major political parties including DMKs T R Baalu and BJPs Tamilisai Soundararajan filed their nominations on Monday to contest the upcoming general election. The quarrel unfolded in front of the returning officer for the Chennai North constituency when Tamil Nadu Minister PK Sekar Babu and AIADMK leader D Jayakumar urged the official to accept their partys nomination first.

A large number of candidates belonging to major political parties including DMK's T R Baalu and BJP's Tamilisai Soundararajan filed their nominations on Monday to contest the upcoming general election. Minor, sporadic incidents marked the filing of nominations with AIADMK and BJP workers clashing in Nilgiris district and AIADMK and DMK locking horns here. In Nilgiris, BJP candidate, Union Minister L Murugan, accompanied by Saffron party state unit chief K Annamalai and AIADMK's Lokesh Tamilselvan arrived at the office of Returning Officer almost at the same time. When they tried to enter the premises, a scuffle ensued and police resorted to baton charge to disperse the party workers. While both the BJP and AIADMK staged a protest against the police, Annamalai demanded that the police superintendent be suspended. The BJP said 19 of its workers sustained injuries and and a complaint has been lodged with election officials. In Chennai, a noisy argument broke out between the office bearers of the AIADMK and DMK here today when both sides demanded that the election officer accept the nomination of their candidate first. The quarrel unfolded in front of the returning officer for the Chennai North constituency when Tamil Nadu Minister PK Sekar Babu and AIADMK leader D Jayakumar urged the official to accept their party's nomination first. 'Royapuram' Mano and Kalanidhi Veeraswamy are the nominees of the AIADMK and DMK respectively in North Chennai constituency and both of the eventually filed their nominations. BJP's North Chennai nominee Paul Kanakaraj also filed his papers. Kanakaraj alleged he was not allowed inside the office when he came to submit his nomination papers. He blamed the AIADMK and DMK for enacting a drama. Tamilisai Soundararajan (BJP), Thamizhachi Thangapandian (DMK) and J Jayavardhan (AIADMK) filed their papers for South Chennai consituency. DMK senior leader T R Baalu filed nominations to contest from Sriperumbudur. Congress leader Karti Chidambaram also filed his nomination from Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency. In Central Chennai, AIADMK's ally DMDK nominee B Parthasarathy and BJP's Vinoj P Selvam filed papers. An ally of the BJP, former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who leads the AIADMK Workers Rights Retrieval Organisaiton filed his nomination from Ramanathapuram. In Vellore LS seat, D M Kathir Anand (DMK), A C Shanmugam (BJP) and S Pasupathi (AIADMK) filed their nominations. Durai Vaiko (MDMK-Tiruchirappalli), TM Selvagangapathy (DMK-Salem), forest brigand Veerappan's daughter Vidya Rani (Naam Tamizhar Katchi-Krishnagiri) were among those who filed their nominations. Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi candidate V S Madeswaran, who is contesting on DMK's 'Rising Sun' symbol filed his papers from Namakkal. KMDK, an ally of the DMK, had initially announced S Suriyamurthy as its candidate. However, after a controversial video clip surfaced in social media in which Suriyamurthy had purportedly made an objectionable remark on caste lines, he was replaced with Madeswaran. PMK's Sowmya Anbumani (Dharmapuri), AIADMK's Singai Ramachandran (Coimbatore) and DMK's K E Prakash (Erode) filed their nominations. In Virudhunagar constituency, DMDK's Vijaya Prabhakaran and BJP's Radhika Sarathkumar submitted papers. Several other candidates filed their nominations on March 25 including BJP's Pon Radhkrishnan and Nainar Nagenthiran from Kanniyakumari and Tirunelveli respectively. In total, over 100 candidates have so far submitted their papers to contest the LS polls. The last date for filing nominations is March 27 and the scrutiny of papers will be held the following day. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is March 30. The process of submitting nominations began with the issue of notificaiton on March 20.

Polling to all the 39 LS seats in Tamil Nadu will be held on April 19 in the first phase.

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