Four candidates for Srirangam seat

With the BJP finally announcing its candidate, it will be a four-cornered contest for the by-elections to the Srirangam Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu, which was held by former Chief Minister J Jayalalitha.

With the revived Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) president G K Vasan announcing that his party will not contest the elections and the Congress deciding to support a common candidate, the contest is likely between the ruling AIADMK, the Opposition DMK and the BJP. According to the political observers, through CPM's latest entry into the fray, the Left party is expected to fall behind both the Dravidian parties and the BJP.

As the BJP expressing its intentions to contest the bypoll, the leaders of the saffron party in Tamil Nadu sought support from its allies DMDK and the PMK. The BJP is trying to set the tone a head of State Assembly polls, which is scheduled to be held next year.

The AIADMK and the DMK have have fielded S Valarmathi and N Anand respectively as their candidates for the bypoll.

While, the CPM announced that its party Trichy district secretary K Annadurai would be the party's candidate, the BJP said that it would field its party state unit vice-president and educationist M Subramaniam as the NDA candidate.

The filing of nominations opened on January 19 and the last date for filing was January 27. The scrutiny would take place on January 28 and the last date for withdrawals was January 30. The elections will be held on February 13.

This will be the fifth Assembly by-election in Tamil Nadu since the AIADMK came to power in 2011. The AIADMK had won the previous four by-elections.