RK Nagar bypolls: Madhusudhanan named AIADMK candidate

CHENNAI: With the ruling AIADMK fielding E Madhusudhanan and CPI-M deciding to support the DMK candidate, the battlelines for RK Nagar by-election have been drawn. It will be a six-cornered contest this time.

The DMK candidate is supported by Congress, VCK, CPI, CPI-M and IUML. The DMDK and PMK have decided to skip this election. The BJP has declared its intention to contest but is searching for a candidate. J Deepa too will enter the fray.

Madhusudhanan, N Marudhu Ganesh (DMK) and TTV Dhinakaran will file their nomination papers on Friday.

The parliamentary board of AIADMK, led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, met on Thursday morning and decided to field Madhusudhanan despite more than 25 persons, including some seniors seeking party ticket. Later, Palaniswami and Panneerselvam appointed T G Venkateshbabu, MP as in charge of RK Nagar by-election. During the hour-and-a-half meeting, members of the parliamentary board discussed the strategies to be adopted for winning the by-election and other issues.

The April 12 by-election to RK Nagar constituency was contested by Dhinakaran as the candidate of AIADMK (Amma) while Madhusudhanan contested as candidate of AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) led by O Panneerselvam. The BJP, CPI-M, DMDK and Naam Thamizhar Katchi and J Deepa also contested. Now, CPI (M) and DMDK are not in the fray.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has decided to double the strength of the para-military forces for this by-election. So, 20 companies of para-military forces would be on guard. Till Thursday, seven independent candidates had filed their nominations.

Forces doubled
EC has decided to double the strength of para-military forces for the bypoll. So, 20 companies of forces would be on guard.