AIADMK announces candidates for RS, LS polls

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Saturday announced A Mohammad Jaan, a minister in late Jayalalithaa's cabinet and N Chandrasekharan, a local leader from Mettur who belongs to Scheduled Castes community, as its candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections in the state.

The biennial polls to fill six vacant Rajya Sabha vacants will be held on July 18.

The tenure of AIADMK MPs V Maitrayen, R Lakshmanan, T Rathinavel, K.R. Arjunan, DMK MP Kanimozhi, and CPI MP Raja will get over on July 24.

On the basis of its strength in the state Assembly, the AIADMK is in a position to send only three candidates to the Rajya Sabha, out of which one it has promised to the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK).

The party also announced A C Shanmugam, President of New Justice Party, as the alliance candidate for Vellore Lok Sabha constituency where the election was rescinded in April after large amounts of unaccounted cash were allegedly seized from a warehouse belonging to a DMK candidate in the state.

The bye-elections for Vellore are scheduled to be held on August 5.

DMK and Congress-led United Progressive Alliance had managed to sweep the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year in Tamil Nadu with the UPA managing to win 37 seats in the state.