In the forthcoming elections of the Tamil Nadu House, one thousand farmers in Tamil Nadu will submit their nominations from the Kangeyam seat. In Tirupur district, the Kangeyam seat stands. Since their requirements to release water from the Parambikulam-Aliyar projects are not heard. The farmers say they've agreed to make the nominations.
A report from last year said that farmers from the Vellakoil Branch Canal Water Protection Committee were on a 5-day hunger strike seeking release of water from the dam. Following a meeting with Minister E Palaniswami, the hunger strike was halted. However, their requests have not been fulfilled despite the fact that they have been addressed.
"Because there was no answer sought, the farmers agreed to file 1,000 nominations from Kangeyam constituency and a committee member filed his nomination on Tuesday," reported sources in the farmers' collective. Committee sources reported that on Wednesday more than 10 nominations were obtained and by Thursday and Friday, more farmers are going to send their papers to reach the 1,000 mark.
In the meantime, the farmers compared the situation to the place taken 25 years ago in Erode by farmers in Modakurichi. 1016 farmers named from the Modakurichi Assembly segment in 1996. This raised the cumulative nominations sent to this seat to 1,033, which gave the Election Commission a nightmare.
In the end, the polling board had to delay the election by one month. DMKs Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan beat RN Kittusamy of the AIADMK in the election back then.
Of the 1.033 candidates, a total of 1.030 lost their deposits; 158 have polled one vote each, and 88 did not vote on one ballot paper by a single vote of a book of 50 pages.
