The withdrawal of nominations sent shock waves to the DMK and the AIADMK in many southern districts.
The AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam represented Bodinayakkanur Assembly Constituency in Theni district. The Kuchanoor Town Panchayat, which falls under the constituency, had fielded Nagajothi as its candidate for Ward 7. The DMK had nominated Pathanam, wife of Ravichandran. On the day of withdrawal, the AIADMK candidate Nagajothi withdrew her nomination thus making the DMK candidate emerge victorious unopposed.
Equally, for the ruling party (DMK), in Kamudi Town Panchayat in Ramanathapuram district, the home town of the party district secretary and MLA Kadar Basha alias Muthuramalingam, the party and its ally Congress had not fielded candidate in any of the 15 wards. As a result, 11 including 10 Independents and a BJP candidate were declared elected unopposed on Monday after the withdrawal process was completed, officials said and added that elections would now be held only for wards - 2, 3, 6 and 9 on February 19. The BJP candidate Satya Jothi Raja (ward 14) was declared elected unopposed.
In Ramanathapuram Municipality too, after the “sudden” withdrawal of an AIADMK candidate Meenakshi and Independent candidate Anandi from Ward 29, Gayathri Karmegam of the DMK was declared elected. Already, on the scrutiny date, when the officials rejected the nomination of an AIADMK candidate, the DMK’s Praveen Thangam was declared elected unopposed.
