Coimbatore: Challenging political giants, several professionals, industrialists and activists had contested as independent candidates in the state assembly election in the district.
Several of them made a splash, toiled and made tall promises during the campaign. Even though many of them were confident of attending assembly sessions, the ground reality differed at large as voters seem to prefer political candidates to them.
Of the 137 candidates, who contested from Coimbatore district, as many as 65 about 47% of them had contested as independents. While constituencies like Singanallur, Coimbatore North, Coimbatore South and urban segments of the district had more than 10 independents, the number of independents in rural segments like Pollachi and Valparai was low.
Coimbatore: Industrialist K Maniraj entered the election fray by filing his nomination papers on Tuesday to contest from Singanallur constituency as an independent.
The 58-year-old resident of Cheran Managar, which falls under Kavundampalayam constituency, has chosen Singanallur as his battleground because of the presence of about 1.5 lakh micro, small and medium enterprises in the assembly constituency. Singanallur is home to several foundries, pump set makers and grinder players.
“I am contesting on behalf of the industrialists. I am entering the poll fray as I want to voice their concerns directly in the assembly. None of the politicians has spoken for us before,” Maniraj said.