Tamil Nadu Assembly bypolls on 21 Oct: Congress fields Ruby Manoharan from Nanguneri seat after Sonia Gandhi approves candidature

The Congress on Friday nominated Chennai builder and Kancheepuram District Congress Committee president Ruby Manoharan from Tamil Nadu's Nanguneri constituency for the upcoming bypoll in the state, scheduled to be held on 21 October. Manoharan's candidature was approved by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi.

The battle for Nanguneri seat will be between Manoharan and AIADMK leader Reddiarpatti V Narayanan, the joint secretary of the Tirunelveli (suburban) district unit’s MGR Mandram.

நாங்குநேரி சட்டமன்ற தொகுதி இடைத்தேர்தலில் போட்டியிட அகில இந்திய காங்கிரஸ் கமிட்டியால் தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ள மதச்சார்பற்ற முற்போக்கு கூட்டணியின் காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி வேட்பாளர் திரு ரூபி ஆர்.மனோகரன் அவர்களுக்கு எனது பாராட்டுக்களை தெரிவித்துக்கொள்கிறேன்.@r_manoharan pic.twitter.com/PauSPn8Zk5

— KS_Alagiri (@KS_Alagiri) September 27, 2019

An Indian Air Force (IAF) veteran, Manoharan was among the aspirants for the Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency. The seat was subsequently given to then Nanguneri MLA H Vasanthakumar, The Hindu reported.

He is the chairman and managing director of Ruby group of companies and also owns the Ruby Trichy Warriors team in the Tamil Nadu Premier League.

Apart from Nanguneri, Vikravandi constituency will also go to polls bypolls in October. The Assembly election for both the two seats — Vikravandi and Nanguneri – are scheduled to be conducted on 21 October. The counting of votes will be on 24 October.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) announced the dates for the Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections.

"Single-phase Assembly elections will be held in both the states on 21 October and the counting of votes will be taken up on 24 October," Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora announced on 21 September.

Notifications issued for the Assembly polls and nomination process for both Haryana and Maharashtra will be on 27 September. The last day for filing nominations is 4 October and scrutiny of nomination papers will be on 5 October.

With inputs from ANI 

September 28, 2019 at 12:52PM