Candidates of various political parties file their nomination papers

Gurdaspur/Ludhiana/Chennai, Apr 25 (ANI): Candidates of different political parties across India filed their nomination papers from their respective constituencies to contest in the ongoing elections to the Lok Sabha.

For instance, actor turned politician, Vinod Khanna filed his nomination to contest from Gurdaspur in Punjab.

The actor also happens to be the sitting parliamentarian from Gurdaspur from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Khanna sounded confident of his poll prospects and expressed his desire to serve the people of Gurdaspur once again.

"I have always believed that I am in love with the people of Gurdaspur and this land. This is the land of Gurus and I am Guru's worker. I have come here to serve the people. I feel that this time I would win by the maximum margin of votes, and the people will give me a chance to serve them once again," he said.

He was accompanied by his wife Kavita and BJP's national general secretary Balbir Punj.

Khanna, joined the BJP in 1997, and defeated three-time parliamentarian Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, a political heavyweight to get elected to the Lok Sabha from Gurdaspur.

Meanwhile, Ravindra Kumar Sabharwal, an independent candidate, also filed his nomination papers from Ludhiana.ontroversy surrounds the candidature of Sabharwal since he is facing a trail on charges of murder.

However, he termed his involvement in the case as politically motivated by his opponents.

"The murder case against me is politically motivated. To finish that game, I have decided to contest the elections," said Sabharwal.

It was nomination day in Southern India as well.

Dayanidhi Maran, son of Murasoli Maran, filed his nomination from Central Chennai constituency in Tamil Nadu.

Maran will be contesting the general elections for the second time on the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) party ticket.

Dayanidhi Maran has declared that he has moveable and immoveable properties worth nearly 20 million rupees in his name and that of his wife and two children.

Maran lauded the State Government of Tamil Nadu that is ruled by his party and elaborated on the numerous pro-poor schemes initiated by it.

"The Tamil Nadu Government has been performing very well. We have been giving a kg of rice for one rupee, which is not there in any other parts of the country. We have been distributing free colour televisions. By end of this year, we would have distributed ten million and six hundred thousand colour television to the ration card holders. We are coming up with various medical schemes which would be implemented after the elections, which our leaders have announced, where the premium would be paid by the government," said Dayanidhi Maran.

Speaking on the Lankan issue, Maran stated that the DMK wanted an immediate cease-fire so as to save the Lankan Tamils and if the demand of cease-fire is not met, then India should snap diplomatic ties with the island country. (ANI)