A grand roadshow has been organised as VK Sasikala, close aide of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, makes her way to Tamil Nadu on Monday after serving a four-year imprisonment in Bengaluru. Supporters thronging the highway from Bengaluru to Chennai as Sasikala’s convoy passes by is a spectacle that was once reserved for her close friend Jayalalithaa. Her return has made the ruling AIADMK visibly jittery -- its Ministers have filed complaints with the DGP accusing Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran of posing a threat to law and order, the Jayalalithaa memorial has been temporarily shut, and security has been beefed up in several parts of Chennai including outside the former CM’s residence and the AIADMK headquarters.

But even as Sasikala’s return is marked by pomp and grandeur, and speculation grows over her political plans ahead of the Assembly Elections, Jayalalithaa’s close aide will not be able to contest in the upcoming polls. In fact, Sasikala will be forced to sit out of electoral politics until 2027. This, as she has been barred from contesting elections as per Section 8 of the Representation of the People’s Act, 1958 which disqualifies a person if convicted for certain offences.

Sasikala was convicted under Section 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and sentenced to four years imprisonment and a Rs 10 crore fine in the disproportionate assets case. As per the Representation of the People’s Act, a person convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act, a person “shall be disqualified, where the convicted person is sentenced to imprisonment, from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release.” This means Sasikala cannot contest in the 2021 Assembly polls, 2024 Lokk Sabha polls, and the 2026 Assembly polls, if everything goes according to schedule.

Sasikala was released from the Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru on January 27. However, as she was in quarantine for COVID-19 following her discharge from a Bengaluru hospital, she deferred her return to Chennai until Monday. 

Although Sasikala’s electoral ambitions will have to be deferred for another six years, she will not be deterred from returning to active politics, as was evident on Monday when she defied the AIADMK’s warning and traveled in a car bearing the party flag. The ruling AIADMK says that Sasikala was removed as the party General Secretary, a post she was appointed to following Jayalalithaa's demise, in September 2017. The party also claims that she is no longer a member, having failed to renew her membership. However, contesting the ruling party’s claims, AMMK leader and Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dinakaran maintained that she is the AIADMK General Secretary. He claimed that as per the party’s bye-laws only the General Secretary could call a General Council meeting and therefore challenged the one called by Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam in September 2017, where Sasikala and he were ousted from their posts.