Congress won't contest Tamil du by-election

Cheni, June 8:  The Congress on Monday joined the DMK and PMK in keeping itself away from contesting against Tamil du Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in the Radhakrishn gar bye-election here on June 27. Tamil du Congress chief E.V.K.S. Elangovan alleged that the election would not be held in a free and fair manner. The Congress did not take part in the 2011 election from Radhakrishn gar seat which was won by AIADMK’s Vetrivel (83,761 votes). The runner up DMK’s P.K.Sekarbabu, who got 52,426 votes. Opposition parties like the DMK, PMK and MDMK have decided to stay away from the June 27 contest. However, the two Left parties — CPI and CPI-M — have decided to propose CPI leader C. Mahendran as their joint candidate against Jayalalithaa. The votes will be counted on June 30. The Radhakrishn gar constituency fell vacant after Vetrival resigned to facilitate Jayalalithaa’s re-election to the assembly.  (IANS)