Assembly by-elections: 58 nominations accepted after scrutiny, 41 rejected

Of the 99 nomination papers filed for the October 6 Madhuranthakam and Dharapuram seats of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, 58 were accepted, while 41, mostly independent candidates, were rejected during scrutiny on Thursday. These two seats fell vacant after the resignations of rebel AIADMK MLAs.
According to the latest information released by the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu today, out of a total of 48 nomination papers filed in Maduraanthakam, including 35 male and 13 female candidates, 28 were approved and 20 were rejected.
A total of 51 candidates, including 23 men and 28 women, filed their nomination papers in Dharapuram, of which 30 were accepted and 21 rejected.
The office said that the papers of candidates of all the five main political parties - ruling TVK, opposition DMK, AIADMK, NTK, CPI and CPI(M) - were found to be valid and accepted. The final number of candidates in the fray will be known after the withdrawal of nominations tomorrow. Scrutiny will be held on Friday while the last date for withdrawal of nominations is September 19. After that, the final number of candidates in the contest will be revealed. On September 16, the last day for filing nominations, TVK candidates also filed their papers. As expected, the party rebelled from AIADMK and joined TVK, former MLA Ms. K. Maragatham Kumaraval to Maduraanthakam and Ms.P. Satyabhama has been given a ticket from Dharapuram. Both of them left the AIADMK to join the TVK, necessitating by-elections.
Former MLA of AIADMK Ms. Kanitha Sampath and CPI(M) Ms. P. Suganthi also filed papers from Maduraanthakam seat, while from Dharapuram AIADMK's Ms. K. Bhanumathi and CPIKP. Lakshmanan filed nominations.
A day earlier, candidates from the main opposition party DMK and actor-director Seeman's party Naam Tamlar Katchi (NTK) had filed their nomination papers for both the seats. Former member of assembly and candidate of DMK. Praanthaman and NTK candidate K. Janakiraman from Maduraanthakam, while DMK candidate Sognia and NTK candidate M. Karthika filed papers from Dharapuram.
The entry into the fray of Left parties, which had been providing outside support to the TV government but are now contesting on their own, has turned the by-election into a five-way contest. These by-elections are being seen as a kind of public referendum for the four-month-old Vijay government.
The entry of the Left parties into the fray, while they have made it clear that it will not threaten the stability of the Vijay government and will continue their conditional external support to the government, has come as a surprise to political circles, including the TVK and its other allies. However, CPI state secretary M. Veerapandian and CPI(M) state secretary P. Shinmugam defended his decision saying that he is not part of any of the three major political fronts. These include the TVK-led front, which includes the Congress, VCK, IUML and MDMK; The DMK-led SPA, which suffered significant member loyalties after the elections and now has the DMDK as its sole ally, and the AIADMK-led NDA, which also includes the BJP, PMK and AMMK.
Shanmugam clearly said that not supporting TVK does not mean that the Left parties are indirectly supporting DMK in the by-elections. He said that this is a wrong concept and is not acceptable. "We are not part of any of the three fronts," he said. We have decided to contest the elections, as these are not general elections and are not being held to change the government. This is a by-election and we (CPI and CPI-M) have fielded candidates against all three fronts. Meanwhile, nomination papers of all 15 candidates for the by-election to Thatanchavdi assembly seat in the neighboring Union Territory of Puducherry were found valid during scrutiny and accepted.
Among the candidates in the fray are ruling AINRC candidate and former MLA Ashok Anand, TVK ally Congress candidate E. Vinaygam, DMKKK. Sethu alias Sethuselum and CPI candidate A. Muhammad Salim included. Here is a four-way contest.
This by-election Chief Minister and AINRC founder N. It was necessitated by the resignation of Rangasamy, who had won two seats in the April 9 elections and later decided to retain the Mangalam seat.