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30pc nominations rejected
More than 2,200 applications of the total 7,240 filed were rejected by poll officials on Saturday
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
A record number of more than 2,200 nominations of the total 7,240 filed were rejected by poll officials on Saturday. Tension prevailed in several government offices when the applications were being scrutinised and heated arguments ensued whenever nominations were objected to by other aspirants. A total of 3,500 nominations were accepted and the scrutiny continued till late in the night.
“We are expecting rejection numbers to go up and several candidates have been given a few hours to furnish details by Sunday noon. Close to 30% of nominations were rejected on various grounds, which includes lack of data related to assets and income tax declarations, incomplete applications and failure to furnish names of voters seconding the candidature,” a Public Election Department official said. The official also said that usually, about 10% of nominations are usually withdrawn before the last day of candidature withdrawal.
A few high profile candidates file four applications each and after accepting the first, the rest are rejected, the official explained. Rejection of nominations outnumbered the accepted forms in constituencies like Thyagaraya Nagar, Kancheepuram, Tirutani, Tiruvallur and Tirupathur. In Kolathur and R K Nagar, 17 nominations, of mostly Independents, were rejected.
According to ECI sources, the 2016 Assembly polls had 3,776 candidates in the fray and 3,232 candidates forfeited deposits. This time the number of candidates is likely to increase by 5 to 10% as new parties and a five-cornered contest, including MNM is in the fray. Karur saw a maximum of 97 nominations and 13 were rejected.
After nominations, parties prep for high-decibel rally
Poll-bound Tamil Nadu, which on Saturday crossed the crucial stage of nomination scrutiny, is all set to race against the time with a high-decibel campaign from Sunday.
“From this Sunday, the entire State will witness a full-throttle campaign as several party and independent candidates have obtained permission for use of campaign vehicles fit with loudspeakers. Star campaigners of the political parties have also submitted their list of road intersections seeking police permission to address the voters, ” an informed poll official said.
“So far, only the prominent leaders like Edappadi K Palaniswami, O Panneerselvam, MK Stalin, Kamal Haasan, TTV Dhinakaran and Seeman were addressing the rallies and public meetings. Now, the candidates, including the independents, have obtained permission for the micro-level door to door campaign in their respective constituencies,” the official explained.
From Monday, the AIADMK has also arranged a campaign tour for party coordinator OPS focussing western Tamil Nadu. OPS will seek votes for Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami by touring the Salem district on Wednesday. Similarly, Palaniswami after completing his delta tour will visit Theni and campaign for OPS, who is contesting from Bodinayakkanur.
“We have already begun the campaign by meeting the prominent alliance functionaries and the influential persons in the constituency. The actual full-fledged door to door campaign will start from Sunday, ” said AMMK harbour constituency candidate Santhana Krishnan. The door-to-door canvassing is the most important crucial part of the campaign and teams have been formed to expose the anti-people measures implemented by the Centre and the State governments, Krishnan added.
“The silent phase of the campaign has been going on for the past two weeks with less poll fervour, but now our party candidate Paranthaman nomination has been accepted. From now on, the campaign will have more colour and extravaganza, ” said former DMK ward secretary C Purushoth of Choolai coming under Egmore constituency.
“Early morning campaign at Corporation parks, campaign autos with loudspeakers, pamphlet distribution seeking votes and area wise development promises to the voters are the events that would spice the elections, ” said former DMK councillor Sudhakar, who has begun the door-to-door campaign for his party candidate SM Nazar in Avadi constituency.
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