Tamil Nadu Congress president K V Thangkabalu emerged the party candidate for a city constituency after his wifes nomination was rejected because she had not signed it. Jayanthi Thangkabalu had in fact filed two applications,both without her signature,which were rejected by the returning officer during scrutiny today. As he had filed a nomination as a dummy candidate,Thangkabalu emerged the automatic replacement. The other one is a rebel,Mahila Congress member M Sivagami. When returning officer Innocent Divya announced that the nominations were rejected,Thangkabalu said his wife had filed four nominations for Mylapore,two of which disappeared from the ROs office. Their son filed a complaint with the CEO. However,the RO said both nominations were rejected for not bearing her signature. She denied there were four nominations. While this was going on,rebel candidate Sivagami charged Thangkabalu of staging a drama to corner a seat for himself,which was not sanctioned by the high command. Sivagami complained the PCC chiefs wife did not furnish all details including those about her position as managing director of a TV channel her husband floated,and a pending criminal case against her. There have been others who have put up relatives as dummy candidates to ensure the chance to contest does not go out of the family. In Krishnagiri,for instance,M Hazeena Syed has emerged the Congress candidate after her replacement announced by the high command could not file his nomination on time. There,her husband R Syed Ghiyas Ul Haq has also filed papers as a dummy. In southern Ambasamudram where senior DMK leader and Speaker of the outgoing Assembly R Avudaiappan is contesting,his son A Prabhakaran is the dummy. In Radhapuram,P Veldurai is the Congress candidate; his son V P Durai is the dummy. When Jayanthi Thangkabalu,a political newbie,became the surprise choice for Mylapore in Chennai,there were a series of protests by party cadres by disgruntled leaders and seat-aspirants. As the noise refused to die down,and with rebel candidates jumping into the fray,Thangkabalu filed his papers. Meanwhile,another Congress candidate faced trouble at the last stage of scrutiny. Sitting MLA from Vellore C Gnanasekaran has been asked to furnish additional documents by officials after it was alleged that he suppressed information including that of a land deal,which was raised by a fellow party man.
