With No Other Contenders, AIADMK Set to Win By-election to Rajya Sabha

A Navaneethakrishnan, former chairman of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, is the AIADMK candidate.
With No Other Contenders, AIADMK Set to Win By-election to Rajya Sabha

CHENNAI: The AIADMK is all set to win the by-election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Tamil Nadu as no other political party had fielded candidates till Monday, the last day for filing nominations. With this, the strength of the AIADMK in the Upper House of Parliament will go up to 11.

Though four independents filed their nominations, they are set to be rejected since their nominations were not seconded by 10 MLAs, the requisite for contesting the election. To elect an MP from Tamil Nadu, a political party needs the support of 34 MLAs in the Assembly and as of now, no political party has the required strength.

A Navaneethakrishnan, former chairman of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission, is the AIADMK candidate. On being elected, he will be serving as a member of Rajya Sabha till June 29, 2016. The seat fell vacant following the disqualification of DMK MP T M Selvaganapathi after his conviction in cremation shed scam by a special CBI Court in Chennai on April 17.

Just 15 minutes before the deadline for filing nominations, an independent candidate TN Velmurugan Chozhaganar came with a bag of coins of Rs. 10 for the nomination fee of Rs. 10,000 and filed his papers. He told mediapersons that he had paid the nomination fee in ‘naanayams’ (coins) to symbolically indicate that honesty has been receding in all walks of life.

The scrutiny of nominations will take place on June 24 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is June 26.

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