Four candidates in fray for Yanam by-poll

By Our Staff Reporter

PONDICHERRY, JUNE 13. The Chief Electoral Officer, Mr. S. Hemachandran, told newspersons here today that papers filed by all four candidates - the Chief Minister, Mr. P. Shanmugham of Congress(I), Mr. Gollapalli Ganghadar Pratap of BJP and the Independents, Mr. Konkey Sivaprasad and Mr. Kasi Prasada Rao - were found in order at the end of scrutiny today for the Yanam by-election.

Following the acceptance of nominations of these candidates the papers filed by the dummy candidates, Mr. Kamichetty Venugopala Rao Naidu of the Congress(I) candidate and Mr. Davuluri Nageswara Rao of the BJP candidate were rejected. Four candidates are now in the fray; but the main fight is between the Chief Minister and the BJP nominee.

Mr. Hemachandran also said the Election Commission has appointed the Director, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dr. Amarendra Kumar Dubey, as the Central observer for the by- election.

The Campaign for the by-election is expected to pick up in the coming days. The contest is centered around two candidates, the Chief Minister Mr. P. Shunmugham, a Congress nominee being supported by the TMC, AIADMK, CPI and CPI (M) and the BJP nominee Mr. Gollapalli Ganghadar Pratap, a local man.

There are 17,588 voters in the constituency and electronic voting machines are to be used. The elections to the Assembly is due next year.

Opposition parties are banking on the uniform sales tax controversy which the parties raised after the presentation of budget recently which Mr. Shunmugham terms as much ado about nothing.

Mr. Shunmugham (72) was president of the PCC(I) for nearly 25 years and was sworn in as Chief Minister after the DMK Ministry resigned following withdrawal of support by the TMC. The election is fought more on prestigious lines as all the by- elections are.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Life-term for murder of widow
Next     : Capturing temple architecture on paper