Chennai: Less than a week after polling for the Tamil Nadu Assembly election ended, COVID-19 infection has spread rapidly among some of the candidates. The Congress party’s candidate for Srivilliputhur (Reserved) Assembly constituency PSW Madhava Rao, who was admitted to a private hospital in Madurai for symptoms of COVID-19 died on Sunday morning. He had complained of fever, cough and cold and was kept under isolation.
Though Congress leaders including All India Congress Committee secretary Sanjay Dutt, who is in-charge of Tamil Nadu, had tweeted saying Rao had tested positive for novel coronavirus, the doctors said he had tested negative for the infection but had symptoms.
Incidentally, Tamil Nadu had last year reported the deaths of an MLA (J Anbazhagan of DMK) and an MP (H Vasanthakumar of Congress) after they tested positive for COVID-19.
Meanwhile, quite a few candidates of political parties have tested positive for the infection. While some of them were infected during electioneering prompting their relatives to campaign for them; post-poll DMK general secretary Duraimurugan, the only candidate in 2021 who had contested in every Assembly election since 1971, has been admitted to a private hospital after testing positive for COVID-19.
Former Karnataka IPS officer Annamalai, who contested in Aravakurichi on a BJP ticket, has also tested positive for the infection. Similarly, former Minister and AIADMK Palladam candidate MSM Anandan was admitted to a hospital in Tiruppur district after he tested positive for the infection on Sunday.
Actor Khushbu, who contested from Thousand Lights constituency as the BJP candidate, tweeted saying her husband and film director Sundar C has tested positive.
Earlier during campaigning, DMK women’s wing secretary Kanimozhi had tested positive and she had voted dressed in a PPE suit.
