Ooty: Poll mood yet to set in

UDHAGAMANDALAM: Former Union telecom minister A Raja filed his nomination papers as the DMK candidate for the Nilgiris Lok Sabha seat here on Monday. With this, all the main political parties have filed their nominations for the seat. However, the poll mood is yet to set in - while candidates are busy conducting party-level meetings, they are yet to be seen at public places, seeking votes.


The Nilgiris parliament constituency, which comprises six assembly seats of Mettupalayam, Avinashi,

Bhavanisagar

,

Coonoor

,

Ooty

and Gudalur, was classified as ‘reserved’ in the 2009 delimitation exercise.

Badagas, the predominant community in the Nilgiris, were initially unhappy with the ‘reserved’ tag. They had approached the Union government in this regard, but in vain. Their long-pending demand for ST status has also not yeilded any positive response.

Though Badagas constitute more than one third of the population, they are not entitled to contest the polls. Experts say the mood of Badagas, most of them small tea farmers, would be a deciding factor in the election.

While other contestants are strangers to the hill town, the only familiar candidate is Raja, who won the 2009 polls from the constituency and lost the 2014 election. Raja filed his nomination after offering prayers at the ‘Ethai’ temple at Beragani near

Kotagiri

.

The AIADMK has pitted M Thyagarajan, 59, former

Pollachi

MP, against Raja. MNM and AMMK have also fielded their candidates, who are from the plains.