V. Vinayagamoorthy, an advocate in the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, became the first candidate to file his nomination papers as an independent for the Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency on Tuesday before Collector and District Election Officer K. Veera Raghava Rao.
None filed nominations in Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency and for the by-elections to Paramakudi Assembly constituency in Ramanathapuram district and Manamadurai Assembly constituency in Sivaganga district.
The filing of papers is expected to gain momentum in the coming days after the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress announced the list of candidates.
The DMK has allotted the Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga seats to its allies, the Indian Union Muslim League and the Congress respectively while the AIADMK allotted the two seats to its ally, the BJP.
Meanwhile, Sathyaprakash R. Singh and Vivek B Umap appointed as expenditure observers by the Election Commission of India for Sivaganga Lok sabha constituency, visited the media certification and monitoring committee room at the collectorate and inspected the arrangements with Collector and DEO J. Jayakanthan and Superintendent of Police T. Jayachandran.
Mr. Singh would be in-charge of Tirupattur, Alangudi and Thirumayam Assembly segments and Mr. Umap for Sivaganga, Manamadurai and Karaikudi segments.
In Ramanathapuram, Mr Rao inspected the GPS fitted vehicles provided to the Flying Squad Teams and Static Surveillance Teams.