Chennai, Oct 7:
Polling in the by-elections to the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies recorded a lower turnout than in the April Assembly election. The counting of votes will be held on October 9.
The by-elections were necessitated after AIADMK MLAs K Maragatham Kumaravel of Madurantakam and P Sathyabama of Dharapuram resigned their posts and joined the TVK. In Madurantakam, TVK’s Maragatham Kumaravel, DMK’s I Paranthaman, AIADMK’s K Kanitha Sampath, NTK’s K Janakiraman and CPI(M)’s P Suganthi were among 27 candidates in the fray. The constituency has 2,13,788 voters and 285 polling stations.
Polling began at 7 am amid tight security. Voters turned up in good numbers in the morning, while turnout increased further in the afternoon and evening. The Election Commission said the final turnout was 86.26 per cent. This was 6.96 percentage points lower than the 93.22 per cent recorded in the constituency in the April Assembly election.
In Dharapuram, 22 candidates contested, including TVK’s Sathyabama, DMK’s S Suganya, AIADMK’s K Bhanumathi, NTK’s M Karthika and CPI’s P Lakshmanan. The constituency has 2,23,306 voters and 320 polling stations.
Polling began at 7 am. Voter turnout slowed around 11 am due to the intense heat, but picked up in the evening as temperatures eased. Some polling stations witnessed arguments and minor scuffles, while polling remained peaceful at most centres. The final turnout was 80.31 per cent, compared with 89.92 per cent in the April election — a decline of 9.61 percentage points.
After polling ended at 6 pm, the electronic voting machines were sealed in the presence of candidates’ agents and transported under tight security to the counting centres. The Madurantakam EVMs were taken to the Integrated Training Centre for Community Development at Aathur, while those from Dharapuram were shifted to the LRG Women’s College in Tiruppur. The EVM strong rooms have been placed under three-tier security.
Counting in both constituencies will take place on October 9, with the results expected to indicate the voters’ verdict on the ruling TVK and the opposition parties just months after the Assembly election.