Chennai, Oct 6:
Polling began at 7 am today in the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu, with voters turning up in long queues at polling stations. Voting will continue until 6 pm. Security has been strengthened at polling centres in both constituencies.
The by-elections were necessitated after AIADMK MLAs Maragatham Kumaravel of Madurantakam in Chengalpattu district and Sathyabama of Dharapuram in Tiruppur district resigned as legislators and joined the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).
In Madurantakam, TVK has fielded Maragatham Kumaravel, while the DMK candidate is I Paranthaman, the AIADMK candidate is K Kanitha Sampath, the CPI(M) candidate is P Suganthi and the Naam Tamilar Katchi candidate is K Janakiraman. A total of 27 candidates are contesting the election in the constituency.
In Dharapuram, TVK has fielded Sathyabama. The DMK candidate is S Suganya, the AIADMK candidate is K Bhanumathi, the NTK candidate is M Karthika and the CPI candidate is P Lakshmanan. A total of 22 candidates, including independents, are in the fray.
Polling is being held at 285 polling stations in Madurantakam and 320 polling stations in Dharapuram. Madurantakam has 2,13,788 registered voters, while Dharapuram has 2,23,306 voters.
The election campaign in both constituencies ended at 6 pm on October 4.
In Madurantakam, 2,614 police personnel have been deployed for security, along with 480 personnel from the Central Armed Police Forces. In Dharapuram. A total of 1,486 personnel, including polling officials and micro-observers, are involved in election duty in Dharapuram.