Chennai: There was a surprise element on the last day of filing of nominations to the prestigious by-elections to Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar (R K Nagar) constituency on Monday. AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran’s nephew MGC Chandran entered the fray as an independent candidate claiming that he was the “true inheritor” of the legendary actor’s legacy even as actor Vishal and late J Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa also filed their nomination as independent candidates.
Counting the candidature of Vishal and Deepa Jayaraman, the electoral contest in RK Nagar promises to be a political potboiler in a six-cornered fight. The prominent ones who declared their entry into the fray earlier are DMK’s N Marudhu Ganesh, AIADMK nominee and veteran politico E Madhusudhanan,
AIADMK rebel TTV Dhinakaran and BJP’s Karu Nagarajan. Adding spice to the contest will be Chandran, the son of MGR’s elder brother MG Chakarapani, who was instrumental in the legendary actor’s meteoric rise in tinsel town. Nagarajan, Vishal, Deepa and Chandran are the prominent candidates who filed their nomination papers on Monday lengthening the list of hopefuls.
At the last count on Monday night there were at least 131 people who submitted papers expressing interest to enter the fray in R K Nagar.
Sources in the Election Commission told Deccan Chronicle that since there was huge rush among candidates to file nomination papers, tokens were issued to them for collecting the papers. “We are still counting the number of people who submitted their nomination papers as independents on Monday alone”, a senior official said.
With the nominations ending on Monday, the papers will be taken up for scrutiny on Tuesday and the last date for withdrawal of nomination is Thursday when the final list of candidates will be released. The elections will be held on December 21 and votes polled would be taken up for counting on December 24, the death anniversary of late M G Ramachandran. Already, Ganesh, Madhusudhanan and Dhinakaran have filed their nomination papers. Nagarajan, who was named as the BJP candidate for the constituency, filed his nomination papers in the presence of state party chief Tamilisai Soundararajan.
Vishal, the Producers' Council chief and general secretary of Nadigar Sangam, insisted that he was not a politician and was contesting the election only as a representative of the people. “I am neither a competitor nor enemy to those contesting. I am contesting the elections only to reflect the views of the people of R K Nagar since they have imposed faith in me. I am confident that I will get the support of the youth”, Vishal told reporters. The actor indulged in a bit of theatrics before arriving at the Returning Officer's office by visiting the memorials of late K Kamaraj, MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa.
Deepa, the niece of Jayalalithaa, also filed her papers and claimed that she did not consider Dhinakaran as her competitor. “The fight is only between me, the AIADMK and the DMK”, she told reporters.
