TIRUNELVELI: DMK councillor K Ramakrishnan alias Kittu has been fielded by the party as its mayoral candidate for the Tirunelveli Corporation. Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru and Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu, who have camped in Tirunelveli ahead of the election scheduled on Monday, made the announcement here on Sunday.
Ramakrishnan, who has been serving the party for the past three decades, is the councillor of ward 25 and belongs to the Pillaimar community. The decision over his candidature was taken after Ministers Nehru and Thennarasu convened a meeting with the councillors of the DMK and its allied parties in Tirunelveli.
Speaking to media persons, Nehru said, "The party high command has picked three-time councillor Ramakrishnan as the candidate for the mayoral election. He will file his nomination on Monday."
While as many as 42 out of the total 44 DMK councillors took part in the meeting, former mayor PM Saravanan and councillor Paulraj failed to show up. The vacancy for the mayor post arose after Saravanan was asked to step down by the party high command due to a long-lasting tussle between him and the DMK councillors.
On July 26, the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission declared the election for the post of mayor in the Tirunelveli corporation. Though the commission had asked interested candidates to collect nomination forms from July 29, no one collected the same till Sunday, and all eyes were on the DMK high command's decision.
In the 55-member council, the DMK holds a majority of 44 councillors, its allied parties have seven members, while the AIADMK only has four members. Hence, DMK's Ramakrishnan is expected to be elected unopposed as the corporation mayor.
According to the commission, the nomination forms can be filed with the returning officer from 10.30 am to 11 am on Monday, and it will be scrutinised from 11 am to 11.30 am. Candidates can withdraw their nominations from 11.30 am to 11.45 am. If there is a contest, the election will be held between 12.30 pm and 2 pm, and the results will be declared soon after the poll.
It may be noted that the DMK councillors, who were at loggerheads with Saravanan, had boycotted most of the council meetings in the past two years due to the tussle. Some councillors also pasted posters levelling corruption allegations against Saravanan, and a footage claiming he was corrupt had gone viral on social media.
Subsequently, in January this year, the DMK councillors moved a no-confidence motion against Saravanan. However, when the motion was tabled by the corporation commissioner, they boycotted the council meeting after allegedly receiving 'kickback' from Saravanan, resulting in no quorum.
