Independents steal show on last day of filing nominations

Independent candidates stole the show on the last day of filing nominations in Coimbatore and Vellore on Friday.

An independent candidate Noor Mohammed appeared dressed up as a king to file his nomination to contest in Ward 94 in Kuniamuthur. “I came so to send across the message that everyone is king of this land. And, each of us deserves to live the life of a king,” he said.

A wild life enthusiast Rajasekar who is contesting in Ward 95 was accompanied by lookalikes of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Ambedkar, Kamarajar and Anna. He intended to take their principles to people.

Similarly, the BJP candidate for Ward 19 turned up dressed as ‘Bharat Mata’ to file her nomination in the North Zone office. On behalf of AMMK, Naufeeq came to file her nomination accompanied by children disguised as former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

The process of filing nominations gathered momentum with as many as 778 candidates filing their nominations in the five zones to contest in 100 wards of the Coimbatore Corporation, while only 350 nominations were received till Thursday.

The DMK is contesting in 74 wards of the 100 wards in Coimbatore Corporation while leaving the other wards for alliance parties. The AIADMK is contesting in 93 wards and its alliance parties in seven other wards, that too on the AIADMK symbol. Both the parties are crossing swords directly in 69 wards.

Interestingly five members of a family in Salem filed their nominations to contest in different wards in Omalur Town Panchayat. Former Town Panchayat president Ekambaram’s wife Thamaraiselvi, 64 is contesting from Ward 9, first son Sivasankar in Ward 2, second son Siva Ilango in Ward 1, his wife Rukumani in Ward 11 and third son Siva Mahendran in Ward 14. Only Sivasankar is contesting on AIADMK ticket, while all others are testing the electoral waters as independents.

In Ambur, former two time councillor of Ward 5 Suresh came to file his nominations with a huge picture of Mahatma Gandhi hanging around his neck and carrying broom and a gutter cleaning spade. He also brought with him Rs 2,000 cash all in Re 1 coins which he then handed over to the assistant returning officer.

Hemnath who sought a ticket with the DMK for Ward 29 was not so lucky. Aggrieved Hemnath joined the AIADMK in the presence of town secretary Mathiazhagan on Thursday. Moreover, in addition to Ganga of DMK who was given the ticket to contest Ward 37 in Vellore town, NTK handed out tickets to two transpersons, Ranjitha (52) and Sabeena (33) to contest from wards 40 and 41 respectively.