Coimbatore: BJP state president L Murugan, who filed nomination papers to contest from Dharapuram (reserved) assembly constituency in Tirupur on Thursday, declared movable assets worth Rs 84.07 lakh and immovable assets worth Rs 69.50 lakh. According to Murugan’s affidavit, his wife has movable assets worth Rs 65.02 lakh and immovable assets worth Rs 44.50 lakh.
Murugan’s nomination process was marked by a 1km-long roadshow to the Dharapuram sub-collector office from the BJP office near the bus stand that saw the participation of minister of state for home affairs G Kishan Reddy and thousands of the BJP and AIADMK cadres.
Murugan filed the nomination papers before returning officer Praveenkumar G Giriyappanavar in the presence of animal husbandry minister Udumalai K Radhakrishnan and former Pollachi MP and AIADMK candidate for Madathukulam C Mahendran.
Addressing the media, Murugan said the AIADMK-BJP alliance would sweep the state assembly elections.
The day saw 80 candidates filing nomination papers from the eight assembly constituencies in Tirupur district, taking the total number of nominations to 177.
DMK candidate Karthikeya Sivasenathipathi, meanwhile, filed his nomination from the Thondamuthur assembly constituency on the day. Addressing the media, he said AIADMK candidate SP Velumani, who is contesting from Thondamthur, was relying on money and muscle power to secure his win. “On the contrary, we only have ideas to serve the people of Tamil Nadu. We will win the assembly election with the people’s support.”
DMK’s V M Shanmugasundaram filed his nomination from Coimbatore North assembly constituency and Kurichi Prabhakaran from Kinathukadavu constituency. Shanmugasundaram said he would win with a huge margin. He said the AIADMK had won from Coimbatore North in the past two elections and the voters of the constituency hadn’t seen their MLAs in the past 10 years. “I will take necessary steps to solve drinking water, street light and drainage issues.”
On his part, Prabhakaran said freezer facilities would be set up at Theethipalayam to store tomatoes.
Actor Mansoor Ali Khan, 58, filed his nomination papers from the Thondamuthur assembly constituency as an independent. Earlier, he was with the Naam Tamilar Katchi, which he quit as he was denied a seat. The actor is facing a couple of criminal cases for objecting to the eight-lane Salem-Chennai green corridor project and participating in a black flag protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was convicted in a rape case in 2001, but he was acquitted in 2007.
At 63, A Noor Muhamad, also filed his nomination papers on the day to contest from Kinathukadavu assembly constituency as an independent. This is his 35th nomination as an independent candidate. “I first filed my nomination in 1996. One day, people will think of voting for independent candidates,” he said.