Vishal submits petition to CEO, tweets to President, PM

Chennai, Dec 6 (IANS) Actor Vishal Krishna on Wednesday met the Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu and submitted a petition to review his nomination papers filed for the December 21 by-election for the Radhakrishnan Nagar Assembly constituency.

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

Vishal, as he is popularly known, met Rajesh Lakhoni, the Chief Electoral Officer, and gave a petition to review the decision of the Returning Officer for Radhakrishnan Nagar who rejected his nomination papers.

On Wednesday night, the Returning Officer rejected Vishal's nomination papers saying two of the proposer's signatures were forged.

In his tweet to Kovind and Modi 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.

Vishal also said he was consulting legal experts. He said the Returning Officer had cleared his nomination and later disqualified him.

According to Vishal, the Returning Officer was getting up from his seat and going out to speak to somebody on the phone.

Vishal said the rejection of his nomination was preplanned and the two proposers (Sumathi and Deepan) were threatened.

"The Returning Officer should be transferred," said VCK leader Thol Thirumavalan.

As per law, a candidate has to be proposed by 10 persons.

On Tuesday, the Returning Officer had first rejected Vishal's nomination forcing the actor to protest on the road. Subsequently Vishal submitted a recorded conversation with a person named Velu, said to be relative of a woman who had proposed his candidature.

As per the phone recording, Velu told Vishal that the woman was threatened to give a letter to the poll body stating that she did not sign the nomination form.

Later, after meeting the Election Commission, Vishal told the media: "My nomination has been accepted. I thank the Election Commission. The Returning Officer has done what has to be done. The audio recording that you all heard is true."

But late on Tuesday night, the Returning Officer announced the rejection of Vishal's nomination after two persons who had signed the papers said their signatures were forged.