Chaos at RK Nagar as over 100 candidates crowd for tickets

Amid high-drama and chaos on the last day of nominations for by poll to the Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency to be held on December 21, as many as 52 persons filed their nominations, which were received and processed until 10.30 pm, on Monday.

Several more are likely to be added to the list which could cross 100, as the Election Officials had issued tokens for all the candidates who received tokens for nominations by 3 pm. Prominent contestants who filed their nominations include actor Vishal, former late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s niece J Deepa, BJP candidate Karu Nagarajan, and BSP candidate AC Sathyamoorthy.

Chaos prevailed at the office of the Returning Officer through out the day as there was no proper arrangements except for the police security who also regulated the entry of candidates and supporters. Even as the crowd of candidates swelled, the Returning Officer was the only person accepting petitions from candidates delaying the process. One more counter to accept applications was opened much later in the day after several independent candidates staged a protest.

The proceedings were smooth until those who came with BSP candidate AC Sathyamoorthy took exception to the cops on security allowing BJP candidate K Nagarajan and its state president Tamilisai Soundararajan to file nomination jumping the queue. The BSP men cited they too were a national party.

As a flutter ensued, the independent candidates too joined the chorus, and the cops had to explain the process. The independents lamented the absence of seating arrangements in the waiting hall and protested. Joint Commissioner (N) R Sudhakar later talked them out of the stir and assured them chairs following which normalcy prevailed.

The scrutiny of candidates is scheduled for Tuesday while withdrawal of nominations will be accepted until December 7 after which the actual number of candidates in the fray would be known.

Until Saturday, as many as 30 candidates had filed their nominations including 2 (primary and alternate) each from AIADMK, and DMK. The polling is scheduled on December 21and the counting will be on December 24, and the election process would be completed by December 26.