Key figures from south, central TN file nominations on last day

Madurai/Trichy: Heavyweight candidates, including sitting ministers and party veterans from southern and central districts of Tamil Nadu, officially filed their nominations on Monday for the upcoming assembly election.As April 6 (Monday) is the last date for filing a nomination, key candidates from major political parties filed their nominations for their respective constituencies. BJP candidate for the Madurai South constituency Raama Sreenivasan filed his nomination along with Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. They took out a procession and garlanded the statue of renowned singer T M Soundarajan before filing the nomination. Meanwhile, the sitting MLA of that constituency, M Boominathan, along with MDMK general secretary Vaiko, filed his nomination. It is noteworthy that candidates of the Madurai South constituency garlanded the statue of Soundarajan before their filing, as the constituency had significant vote banks from the Sourashtra community. Soundarajan hails from the Sourashtra community.Madurai Central DMK candidate and sitting minister P T R Palanivel Thiagarajan, Madurai East DMK candidate and sitting minister P Moorthy, and sitting MLA and AIADMK candidate for Madurai West constituency Sellur K Raju filed their nominations.In Theni district, sitting MLA and DMK candidate O Paneerselvam filed his nomination for the Bodinayakanur constituency. In Virudhunagar district, BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran filed his nomination for the Sattur constituency, while DMDK candidate and son of late Vijayakanth, Vijaya Prabhakaran, filed his nomination for Virudhunagar constituency. DMK candidate and assembly speaker M Appavu filed his nomination for the Radhapuram constituency in Tirunelveli district.In Srirangam constituency, DMK candidate S Durairaj filed his nomination papers. Earlier, he took out a procession accompanied by members of DMK and alliance parties. In Lalgudi, AIADMK candidate Leema Rose, wife of lottery baron Martin, submitted her nomination papers.In the reserved Thuraiyur constituency, Congress candidate V Lenin Prasad filed his nomination. He was accompanied by municipal administration minister K N Nehru, Perambalur MP Arun Nehru, along with DMK leaders and alliance party workers. In Thiruverumbur, AIADMK candidate and former MP P Kumar and TVK candidate Navalpattu Viji filed their nominations.In Pudukottai district, minister and Thirumayam MLA S Regupathy, Alangudi MLA and minister Siva Meyyanathan, and AIADMK MLA C Vijayabaskar filed their nominations. DMK's candidate for Viralimalai, K K Chellapandyan, and BJP candidate Ramachandran for Pudukkottai also submitted their papers. In Karur district, DMK candidates for Aravakurichi, Krishnarayapuram, and Kulithalai constituencies filed their nominations.Four-time former AIADMK MLA R Vaithilingam, who recently joined the DMK, filed his nomination papers from the Orathanadu constituency on Monday amid cheers from party cadres.In Nagapattinam, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi president M H Jawahirullah also filed his nomination to contest from the constituency. He is contesting on the DMK's ‘Rising Sun' symbol.