Candidates file papers for TN Rajya Sabha seats

Exercise to fill in six Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu became brisk as four candidates of the ruling AIADMK and one of its ally the CPM filed their nominations on Monday.

All the five candidates filed their papers before Assembly Secretary and Returning Officer A M P Jamaludeen at the State Secretariat in the presence of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

S Muthukaruppan, L Sasikala Pushpa, Vijila Sathyanand and A K Selvaraj (AIADMK) and T K Rengarajan CPM are the candidates who filed their nomination papers.

The Opposition DMK candidate Trichy N Siva had filed his papers on January 21, the opening day of filing the nominations.

The term of six Rajya Sabha members from Tamil Nadu – A A Jinnah, T K Rangarajan, N Balaganga,  Vasanthi Stanley, G K Vasan, Jayanthi Natarajan – will end on April 2, and the Tamil Nadu assembly will elect six others to replace them.

Considering its huge majority, AIADMK will elect all its nominees without trouble, while also offering spare votes to the ally CPM to fill in the fifth position. The CPM has 10 MLAs while the CPI has eight.

The DMK should elect its lone candidate to the Upper House with its strength of 23, but with just 21 MLAs after seven defections and one resignation, the DMDK may not have an opportunity to win a seat.