Lok Sabha tempo picks up in Puducherry

Puducherry: The Lok Sabha election tempo picked up in Puducherry as Congress candidate Mr V. Vaithilingam and NR Congress Candidate Mr K. Narayanasamy filed nomination on Friday. Though the Election Commission announced the poll schedule a week ago, the campaign was being conducted at a slow pace with the major political parties failing to finalize the nominees for many of the lone parliament seats in the Union Territory.

The campaigning is expected to gear up in coming days as the major rival groups Congress and the NR Congress have announced their respective candidates.

The 69-year-old Congress veteran has served as the Chief Minister of Puducherry in two terms. Mr Vaithilingam, a Congress nominee, was defeated in his maiden poll battle by Mr R. Subbaraya Gounder(Janata) in 1980 from Nettapakkam(a rural segment in Puducherry). But he emerged victorious successively in all the polls held in 1985, 1990, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, and 2011, from Nettapakkam and made Nettapakkam both, his pocket borough and a Congress citadel. Since Nettapakam was declared a reserved Assembly segment Mr Vaithilingam successfully contested from the Kamaraj Nagar constituency from 2011 and 2016. Mr Vaithilingam, who hails from a family of freedom fighters, is the son of  Mr V. Venkarasubba Reddar, who was a freedom fighter and also the former Chief Minister of Puducherry. Following the announcement, Mr. Vaithilingam submitted his resignation from the post of the speaker of the Assembly.

Leaving no stone unturned, the NR Congress has decided to field a young face this time to stand against the senior Congress leader.

 The main opposition party will field Mr K. Narayanasamy, a 30-year-old young doctor and the son of the former DMK Legislator Mr K. Kesavan, whose family owns a private medical college, for the Puducherry Lok Sabha seat. The decision was taken in a meeting attended by the AINRC Chief and former Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, party MLAs, and leaders belonging to its alliance partners the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Pattali Makkal Katchi, and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The move is being considered as an attempt to reap the Vanniyar votes which are very crucial in Puducherry.

As major parties have announced their candidates, it is clear that the seat will witness a direct fight between rivals.

R Rangasamy launched his own party in 2011 after he was denied the post of the Chief Minister by the Congress in 2008. Mr Rangasamy, who fielded Mr R. Radhakrishnan, had defeated the present Chief Minister and former Union Minister Mr V. Narayasamy in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, which came as a major blow to the Congress party. The election victory had become a prestigious issue for Chief Minister Mr V. Narayanasamy, who suffered a shock after losing against the AINRC candidate in the last Lok Sabha polls and against Mr V. Rangasamy, for whom it had become important to prove the dominance of his party. Retaining the Puducherry Lok Sabha seat alone will help the AINRC to nourish their dreams of forming the government in Puducherry in the coming Assembly election.

Apart from the Congress and AINRC candidates, Mr S. Mothilal of CPI Marxist-Leninist, former AIADMK legislator Mr M. A. S. Subramanian of Makkal, Ms Needhi Mariam, and Ms N Sharmila Begum also filed nomination on Friday.

Though the Thattanchavady Assembly constituency, which fell vacant after the disqualification of AINRC Legislator Mr Ashok Anand, goes to the bypoll simultaneously on 18th April, major political parties are yet to announce their candidates. The constituency, which is considered as the stronghold of the AINRC Chief Mr N Rangasamy, fell vacant following the conviction of the legislator by a CBI Special Court recently in a disproportionate assets case. According to the officials, no aspirants have filed nominations for the Assembly poll so far.