40 per cent nominations for Lok Sabha polls rejected in Tamil Nadu

Most rejections were due to the party candidates filing more than one nomination and the other common ground was lack of detail in the nomination papers submitted by independent candidates.

There were aspirants who failed to furnish details of the 10 voters who propose the candidature. Friday is the last day for withdrawal of nominations and the final list with symbols fixed will be ready by next week, poll officials said. Addressing reporters at the Secretariat, Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said that nomination scrutiny has been completed and the district election officers have been instructed to work towards releasing the final list of candidates. The maximum number of nominations came from Karur Lok Sabha seat with 43 nominations followed by North Chennai with 42 applications. The least number of registrations came from The Nilgiris with just 10 valid applications. In case of Assembly seats, Perambur seat registered the maximum entry for nominations with 51 and the least valid applications came for Gudiyatham constituency, Sahoo said.

Commenting about the implementation of model code of conduct, the CEO clarified that till now, more than Rs 50 70 crore cash had been seized for non-possession of valid documents by the flying and static surveillance squads. Of this, a sum of Rs 19 crore has been returned after submission of valid documents. The overall value of seizures in Tamil Nadu is around Rs 69 crore and this includes 223 kg gold and 346 kg silver. Complaints continue to pour in against political parties and so far, 44 cases have been registered against parties and independent candidates. DMK and AIADMK top the list with 10 and 9 cases respectively under various Sections of Representation of People’s Act. PMK and Kamal Haasan’s MNM has also recorded three cases and BJP accounts for two poll related violations. Most cases are for using additional vehicles and 17 independents have also violated MCC, Sahoo said.

AIADMK complained to the CEO saying Stalin was using more campaign vehicles and insisted that expenditure be added into accounts of DMK candidates. Other AIADMK advocates said he was using Justice Arumughasamy Commission probe for election campaign and alleged foul play.