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Updated: Jul 09, 2019 22:57 IST

The Election Commission on Tuesday accepted Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) chief Vaiko’s nomination papers for Rajya Sabha elections , ending speculation about his eligibility to contest.

After scrutiny, the returning officer announced that the papers of Vaiko were in order and that his nomination had been accepted. There were fears that Vaiko’s nomination could be rejected following his conviction in a sedition case by a special court last week. He was sentenced to one year in prison in a 2009 case pertaining to a speech made by him in support of the proscribed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, then engaged in a war with the Sri Lankan armed forces. The court, however, stayed the execution of the sentence for a month on his application, giving him time to appeal the ruling. Senior advocate P Wilson, quoting provisions, including the Representation of People Act, earlier said there was no legal impediment to the MDMK general secretary contesting the Rajya Sabha polls. “I was very confident of my nomination being accepted. Yet, I was also prepared to accept in the right spirit in the event of it being rejected. Hence, I only had asked DMK [Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam] president MK Stalin to field a dummy candidate as a precaution. And, senior counsel NR Elango, who filed his papers as a cover, has withdrawn,” Vaiko told reporters.

Vaiko’s candidature is sponsored by the DMK, which is poised to win three of the six Rajya Sabha seats for which polling is scheduled for July 18.

(PTI contributed to the story)