Nominations filed by candidates of major parties for the sole Lok Sabha seat and the Thattanchavady byelection on April 18 sailed through in the scrutiny process on Wednesday while 19 nominations for the Lok Sabha election and one nomination for the byelection were rejected.
Eighteen candidates are in the fray in Puducherry for the Lok Sabha elections, including V. Vaithilingam of the Congress, K. Narayanasamy of the AINRC, and M.A.S. Subramanian of Makkal Needhi Maiam.
Frontrunners stay
According to an official, of the 37 nominations filed by candidates belonging to various political parties and independents for the Lok Sabha polls, 19 were rejected. For Thattanchavady, the nominations of 10 candidates were accepted while the nomination of an Independent was rejected.
P. Nedounzejiane of the AINRC and K. Venkatesan of the DMK, an ally of the Congress, are the frontrunners for the byelection.
B. Cowri (Naam Tamilar Katchi), K. Ravisankar (Puducherry Development Party) and S. Sridhar (Thamizhaga Vaazhvurumai Katchi) are the other candidates fielded by registered political parties. There are five independents in the fray for the by-election.
March 29 is the last date for withdrawal of nominations.