Sulur lawmaker Kanagaraj dead; vacancies in TN Assembly up at 22 ahead of polls

CHENNAI: R Kanagaraj, AIADMK lawmaker in the state assembly and party functionary in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore district, passed away due to a cardiac arrest on Thursday morning.

The death deals another blow to the AIADMK facing a threat to its strength in Assembly ahead of bypolls in 18 constituencies.

The AIADMK, in a press release, mourned the death of Kanagaj, who had "held various positions in the party and had shown unswerving loyality to Amma [former chief minister J Jayalalithaa." Kanagar, who was 67 years old, was elected as a first-time MLA from Sulur in the May 2016 Assembly elections, with a margin of 35,000 votes.


Including the drop in AIADMK's assembly strengh following the death of Kanagaraj, the vacancies stand at 22; the Election Commission has announced polls for only 18 seats so far, citing the pending election petitions in court.

Earlier, Puthiya Thamizhagam party leader K Krishnaswamy had, on Wednesday, withdrawn the case he had filed related to election of Ottapidaram constiuency, likely to trigger expecations of the Election Commission announcing for the constituency soon. In a similar fashion, DMK's candidate Saravanan had submitted that his intent to withdraw a case over the election to the Thiruparankumdram constituency to free up the seat for bypolls. So far, the EC has not indicated at bypolls after its word on the 18 constituencies announced earlier.