Kamal Haasan says his party may contest in TN bypolls

CHENNAI: Actor-politician Kamal Haasan has said his party MNM would take the call on contesting the byelections to 20 Tamil Nadu assembly seats, including the 18 which have fallen vacant following disqualification of MLAs elected from there, after the poll schedule was announced.

Haasan, who has been touring the state as part of his "journey with the people" programme, indicated that a firm decision would be taken when the Election Commission announced the schedule for the polls.

"Let us face it if that comes..let us see when that happens," the Makkal Needhi Maiam founder told reporters here Saturday when asked if his party would contest the bypolls.


The Madras High Court last week upheld the disqualification of 18 ruling party MLAs, loyal to AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran, and cleared the decks for the bypolls in the constituencies.

Besides the 18, the Tiruvarur seat represented by late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and Tiruparankundram by AIADMK's AK Bose are vacant in view of their recent deaths.