Chennai, Sep 17 : A five-cornered electoral battle is taking shape in bypolls to Tamil Nadu's Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies after the nominations of candidates fielded by the ruling TVK, the DMK, the AIADMK, the Naam Tamilar Katchi, and the Left parties were accepted during scrutiny on Thursday.
The bypolls in Madurantakam (SC) constituency in Chengalpattu district and Dharapuram (SC) constituency in Tiruppur district have attracted considerable political attention, with the major parties choosing to contest separately.
A total of 99 nomination papers were filed for the two constituencies before the deadline ended at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
The submissions included papers filed by official candidates, substitute nominees, and Independents.
Election officials scrutinised the nomination papers on Thursday to verify whether the candidates had complied with the statutory requirements.
Following the scrutiny, nominations submitted by the principal contestants in both constituencies were declared valid.
In Madurantakam, the nomination papers of TVK candidate Maragatham Kumaravel, DMK nominee Paranthaman, AIADMK candidate Kanitha Sampath, Naam Tamilar Katchi nominee Janakiraman, and Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate Suganthi were accepted.
Of the 48 nomination papers filed in the constituency, election officials accepted 32 and rejected 16. The rejected papers reportedly failed to meet one or more of the mandatory requirements prescribed under the election rules.
In Dharapuram, the nominations of TVK candidate Sathyabama, DMK nominee Suganya, AIADMK candidate Bhanumathi, Naam Tamilar Katchi nominee Karthika and Communist Party of India candidate Lakshmanan were found to be valid.
Officials scrutinised 51 nomination papers filed in Dharapuram. Of these, 22 were accepted, while 29 were rejected for failing to fulfil the required conditions.
The final number of candidates contesting the two bypolls will become clear after the deadline for withdrawing nominations.
Candidates whose papers have been accepted will be permitted to withdraw from the contest within the period stipulated by the Election Commission. With the ruling party, the two major Dravidian parties, Naam Tamilar Katchi, and the Left fielding separate candidates, the bypolls are expected to witness an intense campaign. The results will also be viewed as an important test of the respective parties’ electoral strength and organisational reach ahead of future political contests in Tamil Nadu.
