Invisible independent secures 388 votes

PUDUCHERRY: An “invisible independent” candidate, D Tamil Selvam, secured 388 votes in the Indira Nagar by-poll, the result of which was announced here on Thursday.Neither the voters of the constituency nor the police, who were supposed to have provided him security, had a clue of this independent candidate, who was a namesake of AINRC candidate A Tamil Selvan.The independent, according to voters, never appeared in person before them, yet he managed to get 388 votes, which has been credited largely to his name, which bears resemblance to the AINRC candidate’s.Another interesting fact was that the symbol allotted to him, “Kettle”, almost resembled “Jug”, the symbol of AINRC candidate.The invisible D Tamil Selvam walked away with 388 votes, which was “far higher than” the other independent S Veeraraghavan (109 votes), Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) K Vaithianathan (51) and Indiya Jananayaka Katchi (IJK)’s R Shanmugham(38)