After Vishal issue, Praveen Nair replaces Velusamy as Returning Officer

The EC announced that Praveen Nair, who was the returning officer when the byelection was scheduled to be held on April 12, has been appointed to the post again. Last time, when Nair was the returning officer there was a spate of allegations about distribution of money to the voters by the candidates of major parties, resulting in the cancellation of the bypoll.

Velusamy faced allegations from many opposition parties, including the DMK, after he rejected Vishal’s nomination. They charged Velusamy with bowing to the pressures of the state government and rejecting the actor’s nomination form. Former MP TTV Dinakaran too had complained that he was not given permission to begin his election campaign despite several pleas to the returning officer.

Though, no official reason was given for Velusamy’s removal, EC sources said the returning officer should not have resorted to oral announcement on the nomination form, which also led to the confusion. After scrutiny, the returning officer should have officially announced the rejection of candidates and not made oral communication.

Initially, Velusamy had told Vishal that his form had been rejected. But, after the actor claimed that two of his proposers had been threatened by the ruling party, Velusamy had orally declared that the nomination would be accepted. Vishal claimed that he had the video recording of the official accepting his candidature. But, finally the EC officially announced that the actor’s papers had been rejected.

Vishal, who welcomed Velusamy’s removal, said it was the first victory in his democratic struggle. BJP state president Tamilisai Soundarajan, who had initially opposed the change of Velusamy on Friday, however, welcomed the move on Saturday.