EC rejects candidature of TNCC chief's wife

This has put the Congress party in Tamil Nadu, a key poll ally of the ruling DMK, in a  fix. Jayanthi, being given a Congress ticket for the prestigious Mylapore seat in the April 13 Assembly elections, had sparked off a wave of protests against the PCC head for alleged "partisanism and manipulation".

Even effigies of Thankkabalu were burnt in different places by angry Congressmen in the last couple of days, demanding that the Congress High Command withdraw the candidature of Jayanthi, who as a rank outsider had nothing to do with a city constituency like Mylapore.

They felt that claims of long-standing loyalists in the city were ignored. Luckily, Thankkabalu himself had filed his papers for the Mylapore seat as an alternate candidate and his papers were accepted on Monday.

Thankkabalu, who belongs to Salem, also faced flak from  women Congress functionaries for allegedly manipulating the candidature for the Krishnagiri Assembly constituency. A Youth Congress woman functionary, Haseena Sayeed had initially filed her nomination papers for Krishnagiri, presumably by the choice of Rahul Gandhi. But as protests mounted against her too, another Muslim candidate Maqbool was asked to file his nomination on the last day on Saturday. However, he did not turn up to file his nomination that day, sparking fresh charges against the TNCC Chief.

A 'Mahila Congress' functionary from Chennai had even filed a complaint in this regard with the Chief Electoral Officer, Praveen Kumar, charging Thankkabalu with vitiating the ticket selection process. She even accused him of taking money to give a seat to Haseena Sayeed.