God save my country from anarchy, says actor Vishal

Actor Vishal Krishna, whose nomination papers to contest in the December 21, 2017 by-election to the Radhakrishnan Nagar assembly constituency were rejected, prayed to the Almighty to save India.

In his tweet on Thursday, Vishal, as he is popularly known, said: "Still awaiting Democracy to lift its head up again..."

"God save my beloved country from this anarchy!!"

On Wednesday, he met Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu Rajesh Lakhoni and submitted a petition to review his nomination papers filed for the by-election.

But the Returning Officer rejected Vishal's nomination papers, saying the signatures of two proposers were forged.

Vishal also tweeted to President Ramnath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday and brought his plight to their notice.

In his tweet, the actor said: "To the people, I look upto, Hon @narendramodi & Hon @rashtrapatibhvn I am Vishal, I hope u r aware of wats happening in the RK Nagar Election process in Chennai.

"My nomination was accepted & later rejected. Totally unfair. I bring this to your notice & I hope justice prevails."

He also tweeted: "5th Dec 2016, Amma died, 5th Dec, 2017, Democracy died... RIPDemocracy."

In Tamil Nadu, late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa is referred to as Amma.

The actor said he was also consulting legal experts.

According to Vishal, the Returning Officer would get up from his seat and go out to speak to somebody on the phone.

He said the rejection of his nomination was pre-planned and the two proposers (Sumathi and Deepan) were threatened.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has said a total of 59 candidates were finally left in the fray for the by-election.

A total of 145 persons had filed their nomination papers, of that 72 nominations have been accepted and 73 rejected. Later, 13 candidates withdrew from the electoral race.

The major contest will be between the ruling AIADMK (E. Madhusudhanan), DMK (N. Marudhu Ganesh) and the sidelined AIADMK leader T.T.V. Dinakaran, now contesting as an Independent candidate.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded K. Nagarajan as its candidate.

The Radhakrishnan Nagar seat fell vacant following the death of Jayalalithaa on December 5, 2016.

--IANS

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