Chennai, Oct 6:
The by-elections to the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies recorded a high voter turnout on Tuesday, with 83.86 per cent of voters exercising their franchise in Madurantakam and 78.53 per cent in Dharapuram by 5 pm, according to the Election Commission.
The two constituencies, both reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, are witnessing keen political interest as the results are being viewed as an important test for the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) as well as the Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu.
Madurantakam in Chengalpattu district and Dharapuram in Tiruppur district fell vacant after their respective AIADMK MLAs, K Maragatham and P Sathyabama, resigned from the Assembly and joined actor Vijay-led TVK.
Polling began at 7 am and was scheduled to continue until 6 pm. There are 285 polling stations in Madurantakam and 320 polling centres in Dharapuram. The two constituencies together have 49 candidates in the fray.
The bypolls have turned into a multi-cornered contest involving TVK, DMK, AIADMK, the Left parties and Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK). The votes polled in Madurantakam and Dharapuram, along with those in the Thattanchavady constituency in the Union Territory of Puducherry, will be counted on October 9 and the results are expected to be declared the same day.
Madurantakam has 2,13,788 registered voters, comprising 1,04,926 men, 1,08,797 women and 65 transgender voters. A total of 27 candidates, including 17 independents, are contesting the bypoll. The principal candidates are S Kanitha Sampath of AIADMK, I Paranthamen of DMK, K Maragatham Kumaravel of TVK, P Suganthi of CPI(M) and G Janakiraman of NTK.