Former Chief Minister and AINRC supremo N. Rangasamy led prominent leaders filing nominations for contesting the April 6 election on Wednesday, with over 120 candidates entering the fray.
While Mr. Rangasamy filed his nomination in the Yanam enclave, other AINRC leaders and former Ministers N.G. Pannirselvam and P. Rajavelu filed papers in Ozhukarai and Nettapakkam. S.V. Sugumaran formally entered the fray in Villianur, U. Lakshmikandhan in Embalam, Chandira Priyanga in Nedungadu, V. Appadurai in K adirgamam, P.R.N. Thirumurugan in Karaikal North and R. Datchinamourtty in Ariyankuppam.
Puducherry PCC president A.V. Subramanian filed his nomination papers in Karaikal North. Other Congress nominations included K. Vignesh in Embalam, and A. Marimuthu and M. Kathiravan in Nedungadu.
AIADMK’s P. Anbalagan submitted his papers in Ouppalam, where his opponent Annibal Kennedy of the DMK also filed papers. Ouppalam also saw another AIADMK nomination from A. Prabhakaran and a DMK nomination from Annibal Thamijarassi Jacintha.
A. Baskar (AIADMK) filed nomination for Mudaliarpet and N. Dhanavelou (AINRC) entered the contest in Bahour. BJP’s A. Namassivayam filed his papers in Mannadipet while R. Selvam filed nomination in Manavely.
Among DMK candidates, P. Vetri Selvan submitted his papers in Karaikal South where he is pitted against AIADMK’s Assana Marecar, A.M.H. Nazim in Karaikal South, Nagathiagarajan in Neravy-T.R. Pattinam, G. Hemavathy in Orleanpet, Kumaravel in Mangalam and Sivagamasundary in Kalapet.
CPI’s K. Sethu Selvam filed his nomination in Thattanchavady, where he is pitted against a formidable opponent in former Chief Minister N. Rangasamy. V. Vaithilingam, MP, former Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy and leaders of the CPI and the CPI(M) accompanied the candidate.
In Mangalam, DMK’s Kumaravel and PMK’s G. Mathiyalagan filed nominations. S. Sasi Kumar of Naam Tamilar Katchi filed his papers in Nellithope while the party’s candidate S. Gnanapragash did so in Bahour and S. Elangovan in Manavely.
PMK’s candidate G. Ganapathy filed his papers for Manavely.
Among others were Makkal Neethi Maiam’s V. Ruthirakumaran in Ariyankuppam, N. Somanathan in Embalam, R. Rathinamurugan in Ariyankuppam and Santhosh Kumar in Ouppalam, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam candidates P. Velmurugan and V. Sudha in Bahour, M. Jayasudha in Kamaraj Nagar and L. Munisamy in Kamaraj Nagar and and CPI (ML) candidate Mothilal S. in Ozhukkarai.
SDPI’s Mohamed Thameem Kani filed his papers in Karaikal North and BSP’s Paranthaman in Nettapakkam.