As the by-elections in the legislative constituencies of Nanguneri and Vikkravandi in Tamil Nadu have been in the last phase, the police department of Nanguneri had detained and booked the Lok Sabha MP of Kanyakumari H Vasanthakumar later evening under the grounds of breaching the code of electoral conduct as the police had cited that, being a non-resident of the constituency, he had allegedly entered into the constituency while the polling is still underway.

It has been reported that Vasanthakumar was on his way to Nagercoil from Palayamkottai while he was accused with trespassing the constituency that was banned for the non-residents of the constituency and the police officials had said that he has been under investigation for violating the code of conduct that was already in place with the view of by-elections. On the other hand, Vasanthakumar had told the reporters that there was no explanation offered by the police on the reason why he was brought to the police station and stated that he was an elected representative of the people and accused the police department for insulting the Parliament by insulting its member. 

He further added that there was no rules of objection that banned the travel on the road of Nanguneri and by admitting that the code of conduct is in place, he cited that the police would have arrested him if he was seen campaigning in the electoral booth but they had taken him into the custody for traveling on the road and further questioned the police department to justify the rule while says that he shouldn't travel on the road.

However, keeping his rebuttals aside, the police department of Nanguneri had booked Vasanthakumar under the charges of violating the code of conduct. After having been booked, Vasanthakumar had blamed the police department and the ruling party where he said that by detaining him, the ruling party fears that the Congress will win in the constituency. Some times later, the police authorities had bailed him from their custody.

Vasanthakumar was former MLA of Nanguneri and he had resigned from the legislative assembly after elected to Parliament following which Nanguneri was announced with by-elections.

Although the electoral voting machines carry the names of about 35 candidates in both constituencies, the real fight and the heat is between the ruling party ADMK and its alliance and the state's opposition party DMK and the allied parties as the handful parties had flagged the mixture of controversial and critical campaign trails supporting for its respective candidates. The polling is underway in the constituencies that will screen off at 6 pm and the votes will be counted on October 24th, 2019. Vikravandi in Villupuram district hosts about 23 candidates who have been hoping to cultivate the victory from 2.24 lakh eligible voters while Nanguneri has 12 candidates on board who seek the support from 2.57 lakh voters.

Also read : https://thenewstuff.in/voters-queue-crucial-elections-tamil-nadu