Tamil Nadu elections: Fake affidavits, baby names and toppling vans

Tamil Nadu Minister KA Sengottaiyan raised quite a few eyebrows by naming a male child after late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The quirky moment occurred for the Minister when he was campaigning for his party’s Tiruppur Lok Sabha seat candidate MSM Anandan.

In the hot sun, when the minister was canvassing inside the congested streets of Periyar Nagar, a couple belonging to the area requested the minister to name their 10-month old male child. In haste, the minister named the male child ‘Jayalalitha’ which left many perplexed. Recognising the slip-up, the Minister later named the child as ‘Ramachandran’, a reference to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK founder MGR. It seems hectic electioneering is taking its toll on politicians.

It wasn’t the first time the minister has done something like this; his earlier one was calling actor Suhashini Manirathnam as Suhasini Manivasagam a few months ago at an event in Chennai.

TN candidate’s affidavit takes EC off guard, declares 1.76 lakh crore as cash-in-hand

In a major embarrassment for the Election Commission, 67-year-old Mohanraj Jebamani declared Rs 1.76 lakh crore cash in hand and Rs 4 lakh crore loan from the World Bank deliberately in his affidavit which got accepted in the Perambur Assembly Constituency.

The candidates of political parties across Tamil Nadu actively filed their nominations for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections as well as for the bye-elections for the vacant 18 assembly seats. Mohanraj Jebamani, a retired police officer, and leader of Jebamani Janata Party filed his nomination from the Perambur Constituency to contest in the by-polls. Along with the nomination, he filed the affidavit too which stimulated shock and laughter.

The affidavit filed by Jebamani says that he has Rs 1.76 lakh crore in cash – the infamous amount of 2G spectrum scam committed by DMK top brass like A.Raja and Kanimozhi, and a 4 lakh crore loan with the World Bank – again, a sarcastic dig at the Tamil Nadu Government ‘s predicted outstanding debt by the end of 2020.

In a YouTube Video posted by Jebamani a week ago, he admits to filing an affidavit with bogus details. “I have filed the affidavit claiming I have around 600 acres in Kodanad estate; own a Bungalow in Poes Garden and around six houses in Gopalapuram, etc. I deliberately made the false declaration to embarrass the Election Commission,” he said.

Jebamani alleges that the system is flawed. “Not just this time, I submitted a false affidavit in 2009 general elections too when I contested from North Chennai, it just shows how pathetic our system is,” says Mohanraj.

So far, the Election Commission hasn’t initiated any action against Jebamani for filing a false affidavit. He appeals to make false declaration a criminal offence which is treated as a civil matter since April 26, 2014.

Deputy Chief Minister O Pannerselvam’s campaign van topples

Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister and AIADMK co-coordinator O Pannerselvam’s campaign vehicle toppled on its way near Naduvattam, in Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. Luckily, Pannerselvam wasn’t traveling in the van, however, the driver and his assistant sustained minor injuries.

Around 9:30 AM today, the tempo traveler was on its way to Nilgiris for O Pannerselvam’s campaign. Pannerselvam was scheduled to campaign in Cuddalore for his party’s Nilgiris Lok Sabha candidate M Thiyaragarajan, a former MP from Pollachi.

When the Deputy Chief Minister was just a few minutes away from boarding the vehicle, it crashed. The driver was unaware of the huge dent near the road which led to the accident.