Jayakumar: State had no role in rejecting Vishal nomination

Jayakumar said that the state cannot interfere with the functioning of the Election Commission, which is an independent body and derives its powers from Constitution.

“The Returning Officer had passed orders based on the documents provided by the actor.

The signatures can be verified only by the forensic experts not by commoners,” he said.

Explaining the transparency in scrutiny, the minister observed that the scrutiny process was carried out in the presence of all candidates.

“The issues relating to signatures of proposers had been raised as objections by the candidates present. 

The official subsequently called for proof. He conducted his own proceedings and has passed orders based on merits established.

The ruling is that of the Commission’s and the state in no way can interfere with it. It has become fashion to blame the government for everything without following procedures and norms,” he said.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami who addressed the pre-campaign meet echoed the view of his cabinet colleague.

How can state play any role in the EC, he wondered and disapproved the claims of the actor.

Vishal who had a meeting with the Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni at the Secretariat, told the reporters that he was not given adequate time as prescribed in the law.

Citing procedural lapses in the orders passed by the Returning Officer, Vishal observed that the candidate should be given 24 hours in case of any discrepancies to provide response and he wanted his candidature to be reconsidered by the EC.

Vishal denied acting at the behest of either DMK, Kamal Haasan or sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran. “My only agenda for my contest is to represent the people of RK Nagar,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Returning Officer released the list of rejected candidates with the reasons for rejection. “Two proposers appeared in person with ID and stated their names were used without their knowledge and they did not propose the candidate and they did not sign Form 2B,” the reason which was recorded by the RO against Vishal’s name.

2,28,234 voters in RK Nagar  

As many as 2,28,234 voters including 1,10,903 men, 1,17,232

women, and 99 transgenders, are eligible to cast their votes in the ensuing Dec 21 RK Nagar bypoll, based on the continuous updation of the electoral roll until Dec 4, the last day of nominations. As many as 1,947 were deleted on account of dual entries against the representation of the DMK charging that 5,117 voters with dual entries present in the poll rolls.

As many as 29 independents including sidelined AIADMK leader TTV had sought the ‘Hat’ symbol, and it will be allocated based on lots in case of more than one contender.