RK Nagar bypoll: After twists and turns, Vishal's nomination papers rejected

Chennai: Action hero Vishal’s political script collapsed all too soon on Tuesday when Returning Officer K. Velusamy rejected his nomination for the RK Nagar bypoll on the grounds that two of the 10 persons whose names figured as ‘proposers’ disowned their signatures on those papers.

The late night announcement came after intense suspense as the RO withheld the verdict through the evening amid high drama that featured the actor holding road roko and alleging that AIADMK candidate E. Madhusudanan had orchestrated the disowning of those two signatures. He said he even had video evidence to prove the charge.

Even as the audio went viral on social media featuring Vishal and his follower Velu — the latter explaining how the “Madhusudanan team” had forcibly taken away his wife and sister-in-law to force them to disown his (Velu's) signature on Vishal's nomination papers, and how he refused to accept a huge bribe from them — Madhusudanan dismissed the charge as a hoax.

“He (Vishal) is a fraud. Let him first go to that street (where the abduction was alleged to have taken place) and check out who was responsible”, snapped Madhusudanan, when this correspondent got him finally after multiple attempts through the evening.

It is unlikely that the Vishal episode will die down even after the rejection of his nomination. The RO's verdict and the audio on social media could emerge among the main ingredients for the Opposition campaign in the run up for the December 21 bypoll. The heat thus generated might even surpass the excitement from the verdict of the ballot.

‘I don’t understand what happened’

"I am unable to understand what really has happened. The RO is an educated person and there have been so many eyewitnesses to his saying my nomination was accepted and my shaking his hand; so many witnesses to this whole comedy. There have been so many twists and turns like in a movie. I thought I was going to be just one of the 145 independent candidates but did not imagine I would not be targeted like this. This is mockery of democracy", he said.

 "The last time, the bypoll at RK Nagar was cancelled because money was distributed. This time, we have witnessed people being abducted. Why should we fear like this? Why should just an independent candidate wanting to serve the people be targeted like this?"