Chennai: The final list of candidates contesting the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly bye-elections will be published Saturday, following the completion of scrutiny and the deadline for withdrawal of nominations.
Polling in the two reserved constituencies is scheduled for October 6. With the principal political parties having already begun campaigning, election activity is expected to intensify once the final contestants and their symbols are formally announced.
In the Madurantakam (Reserved) Assembly constituency in Chengalpattu district, 48 candidates filed nomination papers.
They included Maragatham Kumaravel of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), Paranthaman of the DMK, Ganitha Sampath of the AIADMK, Sugandhi of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Janakiraman of the Naam Tamilar Katchi.
Election officials accepted 28 nominations after examining the papers, while the remaining applications were rejected for failing to meet the prescribed requirements.
The actual number of candidates in the contest will become clear after the withdrawal process concludes on Saturday.
A similar exercise was carried out in Dharapuram (Reserved) constituency in Tiruppur district.
The filing of nominations began September 9 at the Dharapuram Revenue Divisional Office and ended September 16.
Candidates representing TVK, the DMK, AIADMK, Communist Party of India and Naam Tamilar Katchi, along with others, submitted a total of 51 nomination papers.
The papers were scrutinised on September 17. Election officials found 22 nominations valid and rejected the remaining 29.
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Among those whose nominations were accepted were TVK candidate Sathyabama, DMK candidate Sukanya, AIADMK candidate Banumathi, Naam Tamilar Katchi candidate Karthika and Communist Party of India candidate Lakshmanan.
Saturday is the final day for candidates to withdraw from the electoral contest in both constituencies.
Election authorities will subsequently publish the final lists, setting the stage for a multi-cornered battle. The bye-elections are being closely watched as they will test the electoral strength of the major Dravidian parties as well as TVK and the Left parties.
Campaign teams have begun door-to-door canvassing and local meetings, focussing on constituency-specific concerns.
With only a little over two weeks left for polling, rallies and public meetings are expected to gather momentum across both constituencies from this weekend.
Election officials are also preparing polling stations, security arrangements and voter-awareness measures, while parties are deploying senior leaders to campaign during the decisive final phase before polling begins.
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