Civic Chief gets AIADMK ticket

CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday fielded S Muthuselvi (27), the sitting chairperson of Sankarankovil municipality, as the party’s nominee for the by-election to the Sankarankovil Assembly constituency that fell vacant following the death of former Minister S Karuppasamy on October 22.Since the vacancy has to be filled within six months’ time, the announcement about the date of bypoll is expected very soon. But, the party has announced the candidate ahead of the EC’s formal announcement of the poll date.“I thank Amma for selecting me as the party nominee for the by-election. It was a pleasant surprise for me to hear the news because I am just a grass-root level functionary and I never expected that I would be chosen for this prestigious task. When I appeared before Amma for an interview on December 7, I really did not expect that I would become the candidate,” Muthuselvi told Express, asserting that she would work hard to bring victory to the party.Muthuselvi is an Electronics and Instrumentation Engineer.She has been married for five years with two children and her husband Muthumariappan is working in a private concern. Being the daughter of ex-AIADMK MLA Sankaralingam, she was drawn to politics at a very young age. She is also the joint secretary of the youth brigade of the AIADMK’s 14th ward of Sankarankovil.The AIADMK captured the Sankarankovil municipality for the first time in 2011 and Muthuselvi became its chairperson. The AIADMK chief announced her name after the reconstituted Governing Council of the party chose Muthuselvi as the nominee for the by-poll.Sankarankovil will be the second bypoll to be faced by the AIADMK. The party won the by-election to Tiruchy West in October with a huge margin defeating DMK candidate and ex-Minister KN Nehru.