Tamil Nadu’s matriarch, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has been hospitalised for over a month now. While health bulletins from Apollo Hospital say she’s interacting and “progressing gradually,” she affixed her thumb impression in place of her signature on the by-election affidavits of three AIADMK candidates.
Nomination papers uploaded by the Election Commission show that her left thumb impression was attested by Dr P Balaji of Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital on Thursday with Apollo Hospital’s Dr Babu K Abraham as witness.
The signatory is presently hospitalised at Apollo Hospital, Greames Road, Chennai. Since the signatory has undergone a tracheotomy recently and has an inflamed right hand, she’s temporarily unable to apply her signature. Hence, she has affixed her left thumb impression on her own in my presence.Statement attested by Dr P Balaji

