COIMBATORE: After AIADMK and BJP stepped out of the race in the Erode East bypoll, six more candidates filed their nomination on Monday, taking the tally to nine.

Little-known Marumalarchi Janata Katchi state general secretary Anand (40) of Dharmapuri, A Mani alias 'Paanai' Mani (80), an MGR Makkal Katchi functionary from Ramanathapuram and four other independent candidates - Rajasekar (67) of Salem, Gopalakrishnan (33) of Sanjay Nagar, Isakki Muthu of Chennai and Muhammed Kaibeer (51) of Erode - filed their nominations.

'Paanai' Mani came with a plastic pot on his head to file his nomination. "I am contesting for the 26th time. I aim to win the polls to fulfil all basic amenities of people," he said.

With the fresh set of nominations, nine persons have filed their nominations to contest the by-polls as three independents, including 'election king' K Padmarajan, Noor Muhammed and an ex-army officer, filed their nominations on day one.

DMK candidate VC Chandrakumar is expected to file the nomination on January 17, the final day for filing nominations. Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) will likely contest the polls, but its candidate is yet to be announced.

Ganasangam Party of India candidate Dharmalingam picked up an argument with police after he was denied entry to file the nomination as he turned up late and said he would take it up with the election commission.