THOOTHUKUDI: Film director Gowthaman withdrew his nomination from Thoothukudi parliamentary constituency, levelling allegations against the Returning Officer of allowing two ineligible candidates of a leading party to contest, here on Thursday.
The film director was fielded on behalf of a section of Anti-Sterlite activists pressing to get justice for the 15 people killed by the State police during the anti-Sterlite agitation last year. His was one of the 52 nominations papers accepted by the Returning Officer (RO).
Speaking to Express, Gowthaman said that when DMK party advocates raised objections to Tamilisai’s nominations pointing to the missing details about her director’s post in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), the RO said he received the resignation order on March 22. “How did he know that? If so, why there was no mention about the financial benefits earned by the candidate being a director of BPCL in the nominations,” he questioned.
The BJP too raised objections to the nominations of DMK’s Kanimozhi, pointing to the missing property details of her husband in Singapore. However, the RO accepted both the nominations against the law, he said. He also refused give the reason for accepting the nominations of both the candidates of the leading parties. Accusing the RO of not being straightforward, Gowthaman said, “It is a massacre of democracy”.