Amma forms 34-member panel for bypoll

CHENNAI/TIRUNELVELI: Gearing up for the Sankarankoil bypoll, Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday constituted a 34-member panel to plan and execute election related work.Nominating 26 ministers, including O Panneerselvam, K A Sengottaiyan, Natham R Viswanathan, K P Munus­amy, R Vaithilingam, P Valarmathi and C Ve Shanmugam, the AIADMK chief asked the party office-bearers and cadre to extend full support to the poll panel.Besides the ministers, party election wing secretary Pollachi V Jayaraman, R Murugaiahpandian, chairman, Tamil Nadu Housing Board are the other members of the panel.By-election to the seat was necessitated following the death of AIADMK minister C Karuppasamy in October last year. This is the second bypoll after the AIADMK came to power in May last year. The party won its first bypoll in Tiruchy West. The bypoll in this segment was held following the death of AIADMK minister Mariam Pitchai.Campaign Begins Though the Election Commission is yet to announce the schedule for the by-poll to Sankarankovil Assembly constituency, AIADMK candidate S Muthu Selvi kickstarted her campaign on Tuesday.AIADMK had declared last month that Sankarankovil Municipal Chairperson S Muthu Selvi would be the party candidate. While no other parties announced their candidates, Selvi kick-started her election campaign at Sankarankovil Town. Selvai told Express that based on the instruction from the party’s high command, she began her campaigning. She started the campaign from Mupidathi Amman temple near Sankarankovil bus stand.