As many as 46 candidates have filed their nomination papers for the Srirangam by-election on February 13. On the last day of filing of nominations on Tuesday, 33 nominations were filed, taking the total number to 59, with some candidates filing more than one nomination.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate K. Annadurai was among those who filed their nomination papers on Tuesday. He presented two sets of nomination papers. In his affidavit, Mr. Annadurai has declared movable assets worth Rs.25,186 in his name and Rs.60,200 in his spouse’s name. He had immovable assets worth Rs.15 lakh at current market value.
P. Veeramuthu of Srirangam filed his nomination papers as the CPI(M)’s dummy candidate. P. Parthiban, Tiruchi urban district president of the BJP, filed his papers as a dummy candidate of the party. The offices of the Srirangam Revenue Divisional Office at Ramji Nagar and the Srirangam taluk office at Thiruvanaikoil teemed with candidates and their supporters since morning, giving a tough time for the officials and police.
Many candidates reached the Srirangam taluk office, the office of the Assistant Returning Officer, at the same time to file nominations. Election officials closed the doors of the office at 3 p.m., after allowing eight persons in. While the Revenue Divisional Officer and Returning Officer V. Manoharan received eight nominations, Assistant Returning Officer M. Kader Maideen received 25 nominations on Tuesday alone. Most of them were Independents.
AIADMK candidate S. Valarmathi, DMK candidate N. Anand and BJP candidate M. Subramaniam had filed their nominations and have started canvassing for votes.
The nominations would be taken up for scrutiny on Wednesday. Friday is the last date for withdrawal of nominations.