DMK and NTK candidates seeking support of Erode East residents for the by-election, on Monday
DMK and NTK candidates seeking support of Erode East residents for the by-election, on Monday Photo | Express

47 candidates in fray in Tamil Nadu's Erode; NTK gets ‘mike’ symbol again

After the deadline for withdrawing nominations ended at 3 pm, the process for the allotment of symbols to candidates took place.
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ERODE: Eight candidates withdrew their nominations on Monday to contest the by-poll in Erode East, leaving 47 contestants in the fray. Among those who withdrew nominations was Senthil Murugan of MGR youth wing who has been expelled by AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami for defying the party’s boycott of the election. The voting will take place on February 5 and result will be declared on February 8.

After the deadline for withdrawing nominations ended at 3 pm, the process for the allotment of symbols to candidates took place. Symbols were first allocated to recognised political parties the DMK and the NTK. NTK was allotted the mike symbol again, which the party had contested under in the previous Vikravandi bypoll, as per its wish.

NTK candidate MK Seethalakshmi said, “We had submitted a letter to the Election Commission seeking sugarcane-farmer or mike symbol for the by-election. The sugarcane-farmer symbol was not given to anyone here as it was allocated to a party in another state.

We were given the mike symbol. We are happy as this is the symbol that made us a recognised political party in the state. The symbol has already reached people to some extent and will make campaigning easy.” Earlier in the day, Erode police registered a case against Seethalakshmi and several NTK members for campaigning without permission.

Speaking to reporters, Returning Officer Manish Narnaware said, “As per norms, symbols were first allotted to parties and then independents. There are two recognised political parties and 14 registered political parties.”

Including NOTA, 48 symbols will be affixed on EVMs. One EVM can fit up to 16 symbols. Thus, three voting machines will be used in each booth. an officer said.

Nomination of woman from Bengaluru accepted

Among those in the fray is V Padmavathi (48) from Bengaluru who filed her nomination on behalf of Indian Political Congress Party. While her nomination has been accepted, several independents complained to Returning Officer Manish Narnaware during the symbol allocation process that Padmavathi’s candidature violated EC norms as she is from another state. Due to this, the symbol allocation process was suspended and did not resume even after 9 pm on Monday.

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