Chennai: The ruling DMK on Sunday announced MM Abdullah as the party candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat. He is the joint-secretary of the party’s NRI wing.
Earlier, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had announced its decision to conduct a by-election to fill one of the three vacancies in the Rajya Sabha for Tamil Nadu on September 13. The vacancy was caused following the demise of the AIADMK Rajya Sabha member A Mohammedjan on March 23.
The last date for filing the nomination is August 31 and the nomination will be scrutinized on September 11. The notification for the same will be issued on August 24. The poll will be conducted on September 13 from 9 am to 4 pm and the vote counting will be done at 5 pm on the same day.
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According to a report from the Hindu, the ECI had directed the chief secretary of Tamil Nadu to depute a senior officer to ensure that Covid-19 guidelines are followed while making arrangements for the election.
At present, Tamil Nadu has 15 Rajya Sabha members and three of its seats are vacant. While a vacancy was created because of the demise of AIADMK member A Mohammedjan, the other two vacancies were caused by the resignation of AIADMK members KP Munusamy and Vaithilingam. By-election to fill those vacancies are yet to be notified.
Speaking to a news channel, Abdullah said, “This is a big opportunity for me. I thank DMK leader MK Stalin for providing me this opportunity. I will work keeping Dravidian ideology and the public in mind.”