Chennai: The counting of votes polled in Erode (East) bypoll will take place amid tight security.
A five-tier security has been put in place at the counting centre. Postal ballots would be counted from.8 am and from 8.30 am, votes polled in EVMs will be counted.
The Erode (East) Assembly constituency in Tamilnadu, is witnessing a bypoll following the sudden demise of the Congress MLA E. Thirumahan Everaa who was the great grandson of Dravidar Kazhagam founder ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramasamy and the son of former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president E.V.K.S. Elangovan. The 46-year-old legislator died of a cardiac arrest on January 4, 2023.
While 77 candidates are in the fray, the bypoll contest is directly between Congress candidate EVKS Elangovan and AIADMK’s K S Thennarasu. Naam Tamilar Katchi’s Menkaka Navaneethan is the only woman candidate and actor-turned-politician Vijayankanth’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam’s (DMDK) S Anand is contesting.
Bigwigs of all the parties campaigned for the bypoll, for which 238 polling stations were set up.