Advocate N.R. Elango of the DMK was on Monday fielded by the party for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu as a back-up nominee, in case MDMK general secretary Vaiko’s nomination papers were rejected by the Returning Officer in view of his conviction in a sedition case. The MDMK leader was sentenced to a year in prison.
Legally, however, there is no bar on Mr. Vaiko contesting the election as sedition does not figure among the offenses under the Representation of the People Act that warrant the disqualification of a candidate. Mr. Vaiko revealed that DMK president M.K. Stalin wanted him to contest a Rajya Sabha seat.
“The seat was offered to me as an individual and not for my party, the MDMK. It was an unwritten deal between us,” he explained, while referring to the pre-election poll pact between the DMK and the MDMK, under which the latter was offered a Lok Sabha seat and a nomination to the Upper House.