Polling in the by-elections to two reserved Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Thattanchavady in Puducherry began on a brisk and steady note on Tuesday, with voter turnout crossing 15 per cent in all three seats by 9 am.
The poll body said Madurantakam and Dharapuram in Tamil Nadu recorded voter turnouts of 15.99 per cent and 17.55 per cent, respectively, as of 9 am. In Puducherry’s Thattanchavady constituency, 19.2 per cent of around 27,000 voters had exercised their franchise during the first two hours.
Voting began at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm. In Tamil Nadu, polling is being held across 285 stations in Madurantakam and 320 centres in Dharapuram, with 49 candidates in the fray.
The bypolls in Madurantakam and Dharapuram assume political significance as the constituencies fell vacant after sitting AIADMK MLAs K Maragatham and P Sathyabama resigned and joined actor Vijay’s TVK. The contests are multicornered, involving the TVK, DMK, AIADMK, Left parties and NTK.
In Puducherry, the Thattanchavady by-election was necessitated after Chief Minister N Rangasamy, who had won from two constituencies in the previous Assembly election, vacated the seat to retain Mangalam.
Polling was proceeding smoothly across all 31 polling stations in Thattanchavady, officials said. Eleven candidates, including five Independents, are contesting the bypoll. The main contest is among AINRC’s Ashok Anand, Congress’ E Vinayagam and DMK’s K Sedhu Selvam.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
