Chennai, Oct 6:
Polling in the by-elections to the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies is progressing briskly, with 15.99 per cent turnout recorded in Madurantakam and 17.55 per cent in Dharapuram as of 9 am on Tuesday.
Polling began at 7 am in both constituencies, with voters turning up in large numbers and waiting in queues at polling stations. The polling will continue until 6 pm.
Madurantakam, a reserved constituency in Chengalpattu district, has 2,13,788 voters, including 1,04,926 men, 1,08,797 women and 65 third-gender voters. A total of 285 polling stations have been established in the constituency.
Dharapuram, a reserved constituency in Tiruppur district, has 2,23,306 voters, including 1,07,285 men and 1,16,013 women. The constituency has 320 polling stations.
The by-elections are witnessing a five-cornered contest involving the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), DMK, AIADMK, Naam Tamilar Katchi and the Communist parties. Madurantakam has 27 candidates in the fray, while 22 candidates are contesting in Dharapuram.
In Madurantakam, the key contestants are TVK’s Maragatham Kumaravel, DMK’s I Paranthaman, AIADMK’s Kanitha Sampath, CPI(M)’s P Suganthi and NTK’s K Janakiraman. In Dharapuram, the principal candidates are TVK’s P Sathyabama, DMK’s S Suganya, AIADMK’s K Bhanumathi, CPI’s P Lakshmanan and NTK’s M Karthika.
The by-elections were necessitated after AIADMK MLAs Maragatham Kumaravel of Madurantakam and Sathyabama of Dharapuram resigned from their Assembly seats and joined the TVK.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made in both constituencies. Central Armed Police personnel have also been deployed, while a large number of police personnel are maintaining security at polling stations and other sensitive locations.
In Madurantakam, polling station No. 72 at Kallapiranpuram Government Higher Secondary School has been designated as an all-women polling station.
The polling machines will be sealed after voting ends at 6 pm and transported under security to the designated counting centres. Counting of votes will take place on October 9, with counting scheduled to begin at 8 am and initial trends expected from around 9 am.
The 9 am turnout figures indicate a strong start to polling in both constituencies, with Dharapuram recording a slightly higher percentage than Madurantakam during the first two hours.