Despite the rejection of nominations of actor Vishal and Deepa Jayakumar, the niece of deceased Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the hyped up RK Nagar bypoll has not lost its charm.
This is a seat that fell vacant because of the demise of former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa exactly a year ago. And the bypoll is scheduled for Dec 21. This should have been held in April but was put off by the Election Commission following allegations of some candidates attempting to bribe the voters
Victory or defeat in this seat does not mean much either for the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) which has 111 members or the main opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) with 89 members in the 234-member House. Even with 9 allies, the DMK won’t be able to do much in the Assembly. The fate of the 18 MLAs disqualified by the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly is hanging in the balance as the Madras High Court is hearing the case.
This bypoll (which is usually won by the ruling party) looks to attract the attention of everybody in the State not because of the result's importance but because of high stakes of individual candidates like T.T.V. Dinakaran. He happens to be the ousted deputy general secretary of the AIADMK (Amma faction) and the nephew of V.K. Sasikala Natarajan, the jailed former-live-in aide of Jayalalithaa and also one who was elected the general secretary of the party. Though she was elected as the Leader of the AIADMK legislature party, she could not become the Chief Minister as Supreme Court convicted her literally at the 11th hour for a 4-year-term in a disproportionate assets case.
The rejection of the nomination of 40-year-old actor and producer Vishal was as sudden and unexpected as his entry was. Vishal, who heads the South Indian Film Artistes' Association and the Film Producers' Council, tried to contest as an an independent. But, it looks strange that he could not get 10 persons to propose his name. Two of his proposers submitted before the Returning Officer K. Velusamy that their signatures had been forged.
This triggered a furore and Vishal even staged a mini-road roko. He claimed that he had even video evidence and alleged that the two persons had been forced to say so under duress. But the Returning Officer stuck to his guns and ultimately Vishal had to eat a humble pie. All that he can now do is to move an election petition in the Madras High Court.
Despite being a far more important candidate in terms of politics and a pedigree to boot, Deepa Jayakumar had also to accept the rejection of her nomination on some technical grounds. She is alleged to have left many columns blank. There were factual inaccuracies also. Political analysts wonder how these could have happened to these two important candidates who would have given a fright to the major candidates.
Deepa chose to blame it on the ruling AIADMK saying that it does not want any candidate who will garner votes. She contended that she had provided all the basic details in the nomination form. “Of course there might be minor discrepancies in the nomination papers but that cannot be the reason for their rejection”, she contended.
Another interesting rejection is that of MGC Chandran, the son of MGR's elder brother M.G. Chakrapani. His nomination as an independent was also rejected on technical grounds.
After the rejection of 73 nominations, 72 candidates are in the fray, including more than 65 Independents. Dec 7 (Thursday) is the last day for withdrawal of nominations.
The major candidates left in the arena are, E. Madhusudhanan, former Minister and presidium chairman of the AIADMK. He has once been elected from the same constituency in 1991. The battle-ready opposition DMK has fielded Marudhu Ganesh, one with 20 years of journalistic experience. Mr. Karu Nagarajan has been fielded by the BJP to test its strength in the capital of the State where it has never won anything.
Already, the main opposition leader and working president of the DMK, Mr. M.K. Stalin, has managed to get the support of his once bête noire Vaiko, general secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK). It is now 13 years since the MDMK is finding itself in the embrace of the party which threw him out 25 years ago. He was expelled by none other than his political guru and DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi. Though several allegations, including a conspiracy to liquidate Mr. Karunanidhi, was levelled against Mr. Vaiko, the whole world knew that the DMK chief wanted to clear the major road block for his younger son Stalin for becoming the party chief.
The parties who have extended their support to the DMK candidate now include CPI-M, and Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi. Parties like the CPI and the PMK might follow suit. Another major party DMDK, led by actor Vijayakant, is yet to make up its mind.
However, the ruling party is yet to get any promise of support.
By fielding Mr. Karu Nagarajan, the BJP, which remains totally isolated, has revealed its inclination to test the political waters in Chennai where it has never won anything.
The Naam Thamizhar Katchi, which is only a fringe outfit, keeps trying on its own.
Rejection of Deepa Jayakumar’s nomination would definitely help Mr. Madhusoodhanan as she could have split the AIADMK votes. Similarly, rejection of the nomination of actor Vishal has eliminated a dark horse as none will be able to guess what sort of an impact Vishal would have had.
But still the AIADMK is not over the hill as it has to face its most potent opponent in the form of Mr. Dinakararn, who still commands quite a lot of the AIADMK rank and file.
According to political observers, the mind-boggling number of independents in a bypoll is the handiwork of the ruling party to prevent Mr. Dinakaran from getting his favourite "hat" symbol with which he had campaigned in his first attempt during April this year for the same constituency. His attempt to get a court order favouring "hat" symbol for him has gone kaput. As many as 29 Independent candidates are seeking "hat" symbol thus making it difficult for Dinakaran. This would be allotted through a lottery on Thursday evening after the withdrawal of nominations."
The court had ruled that it is only the Election Commission that had the locus standi to allot a symbol. After all, politics means "art of the possible" and hence the Chanakyas in the AIADMK camp are working overtime to defeat Mr. Dinakaran.
Now people are wondering whether the ruling party is bent upon defeating its major opposition - the DMK or its bête noire Dinakaran. Your guess is as good as mine.