June 27 RS polls: AIADMK candidates file nominations

All the five ruling AIADMK candidates for the June 27 Rajya Sabha biennial elections from Tamil Nadu today filed their nominations.
All of them submitted their nominations to Presiding Officer and Assembly Secretary A M P Jamaludeen at the secretariat in the presence of Chief Minister and party supremo J Jayalalithaa, an official release said.
Those who filed their papers are V Maithreyan, sitting Rajya Sabha member (whose term ends in July), Nilgris AIADMK District Secretary K R Arjunan, Tiruchirapalli Sub Urban Area Secretary T Rathnavel, Villupuram strongman R Lakshmanan and agricultural wing leader K Thangamuthu.
There are six vacancies arising from Tamil Nadu. With its strength of 151 in the 234-member Assembly, the AIADMK can win four Rajya Sabha seats comfortably and is banking on support of smaller allies and dissident DMDK MLAs for the fifth.

The last date for filing of nominations is June 17. Scrutiny would be on June 18 and the last date for withdrawal June 20.
Election if necessary would be held on June 27 and counting of votes would be taken up on the same day at 5 PM.