The Election Commission on Saturday replaced its returning officer of RK Nagar constituency in Tamil Nadu ahead of the upcoming bye-election. K Velusamy will be replaced by Pravin P Nair.
The commission’s decision comes soon after the officer had rejected the nominations filed by both J Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa Jayaraman and actor Vishal. Velusamy had said that Vishal’s papers were rejected because two of the signatures of the 10 people required to support a nomination were forged. Vishal had claimed that the two people in question went missing after his nomination was rejected. There were also reports that his nomination had briefly been accepted before it was rejected. Scroll.in has not verified these reports independently.
Opposition party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had demanded the returning officer be transferred. “He should have asked for their recent signatures and if there was similarity and no evidence of forgery,” said DMK Spokesperson A Saravanan had said. “He should not have rejected his papers.”
The bye-poll to the seat, which fell vacant after Jayalalithaa died in December 2016, will be held on December 21. The results will be announced on December 24.
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