All party nominees sure to win

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, JULY 13. The stage is set for all six party candidates - four from the AIADMK and one each from the DMK and the TMC - getting elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu, to fill the six vacancies falling due on July 24.

Though seven candidates are in the fray for the six seats including an Independent, Dr. Padmarajan from Mettur, as nominations closed at 3 p.m. today, he was not proposed by any MLA. That will render his nomination invalid when scrutiny of the papers is taken up here tomorrow.

The State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Dr.Mrutunjay Sarangi, who is also the Returning Officer (RO) told reporters after the nominations closed, that withdrawal could be done upto 3 p.m., Monday.

``After the deadline, we will declare the result as there is no likelihood of a contest,'' Dr. Sarangi said.

An observer from the Election Commission, Mr. K. J.Rao, Secretary, EC, would be present for the scrutiny, and would remain in Chennai until after the results were declared.

On the CEO being appointed RO for the first time for the Rajya Sabha polls, Dr. Sarangi said the convention was that the Secretary of the Legislative Assembly was also the RO for the Rajya Sabha polls.

But this time, with the State Government having appointed a Principal Secretary to the Assembly on a contractual basis, the EC had ``appointed me'' RO.

The party candidates are Mr. P. G. Narayanan, Mr. R. Kamaraj, Ms. Gokula Indira, Mr. S. S. Chandran (all AIADMK), Mr. R. Sarath Kumar (DMK) and Mr. B. S. Gnanadesikan (TMC).

Earlier, after the TMC announced its nominee in the morning, Mr. Gnanadesikan, accompanied by the retiring member, Mrs. Jayanthi Natarajan, the leader of the TMC in the Assembly, Mr. S. R. Balasubramoniyan, who was among his proposers, and other TMC MLAs and functionaries, filed his papers with the RO.

Representatives of alliance parties including the AIADMK Ministers, Mr. M. Thambi Durai and Mr. O. Pannerselvam, were also present.

Though the TNCC(I) president, Mr. E.V.K.S. Elangovan, reached the CEO's office a bit late, the TMC general secretary, Mr. Peter Alphonse later organised a group photograph with the representatives of all alliance parties to signal that Mr. Gnanadesikan, a choice made by Mr. Moopanar after much wrangling in the party, had the support of all allies.

Before Mr. Gnanadesikan filed his papers, there was some excitement at the Secretariat with speculation rife about the PMK, which recently quit the AIADMK-led front, suddenly jumping into the fray. That would have made a contest inevitable as a section in the PMK also floated the name of Mr. Udayaarasu as its nominee. But the expectations were belied as the deadline for filing nominations closed.

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Section  : Southern States
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