On the first day of receiving applications from aspirants who wished to contest the Lok Sabha elections, the AIADMK functionaries and cadre vied with each other in buying forms in the name of party chief J Jayalalithaa for all Parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, except the six reserved ones.
Thousands of functionaries and cadre thronged the AIADMK headquarters in Royapettah on Thursday morning.
The first application was received by Finance Minister O Panneerselvam in the name of Jayalalithaa expressing wish that she should contest from Theni constituency.
Following this, all ministers, headquarters office-bearers, sitting MPs, MLAs and councillors bought applications in the name of Jayalalithaa for 36 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry except for the six reserved constituencies - Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Villupuram, Nilgiris, Chidambaram and Tenkasi. The office-bearers in these six constituencies bought applications in the name of Jayalalithaa for the constituencies adjacent to theirs.
In the application forms, details about the aspirants are sought in 25 columns like - whether the aspirant contested elections already, whether he/she was a member of some other party, the community to which the aspirant belongs to, whether the person has taken part in the agitations organised by the party on public issues and the demography of the constituency.
The filled applications will be received till December 27.