Chennai: Curtains to the filing of nominations for the April 18 Lok Sabha election came down on Tuesday with several candidates making a last minute dash to submit their papers. About 1,227 candidates including 1,089 men, have filed their papers for the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State.
In addition, about 485 persons including 411 men filed their nominations for the by-election to 18 Assembly constituencies, according to CEO Satyabrata Sahoo.
While the final count of nominations for Lok Sabha will be known later, as per the latest count by the Election Commission, around 1,089 male candidates besides two of the third gender have filed their papers for the LS polls. The filing of nominations ended at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
The scrutiny of the papers filed by the candidates will be taken up on Wednesday and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 29.
The process of filing nomination started on March 19.
Candidates who have filed their nominations include BJP senior and Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan, DMK's Kanimozhi and former DMK Minister Dayanidhi Maran, besides political greenhorn P. Raveendranath Kumar, son of AIADMK Coordinator and state Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.
Congress' Karti Chidambaram, BJP national secretary H. Raja, senior DMK leader T. R. Baalu, AIADMK senior and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M. Thambidurai, BJP state president Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan and Coir Board Chairman C. P. Radhakrishnan were also among those who filed their papers.
Among the major contenders are AIADMK-led alliance which includes the BJP, PMK, DMDK, PT, TMC, NJP and NR Congress, and the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance. Actor Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam and TTV Dhinakaran's Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) are also contesting the polls.
