Chennai, Oct 6 (IANS): Polling gathered momentum in Tamil Nadu’s Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly by-elections on Tuesday, with voter turnout reaching 55.19 per cent and 56.09 per cent, respectively, by 1 p.m., according to the election authorities.
Voting began at 7 a.m. and will continue until 6 p.m. The contests are seen as an important electoral test for Chief Minister Vijay’s ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and the opposition parties.
Both constituencies, reserved for Scheduled Castes, fell vacant after AIADMK legislators K. Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama resigned and joined the TVK. They are now seeking re-election as candidates of the ruling party.
Madurantakam, in Chengalpattu district, has 2,13,788 registered voters, comprising 1,04,926 men, 1,08,797 women and 65 transgender persons.
Voting is being conducted at 285 polling stations. Twenty-seven candidates, including 17 Independents, are contesting the seat.
The principal contenders are Maragatham Kumaravel of the TVK, S. Kanitha Sampath of the AIADMK, I. Paranthamen of the DMK, P. Suganthi of the CPI(M) and G. Janakiraman of Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK).
Election authorities have allocated 342 electronic voting machines for Madurantakam, including a 20 per cent reserve.
Dharapuram, in Tiruppur district, has 2,23,306 electors: 1,07,285 men, 1,16,013 women and eight transgender persons. Its 320 polling stations are spread across 186 centres.
Twenty-two candidates are in the fray. The leading contestants are the TVK’s P. Sathyabama, AIADMK’s K. Banumathi, DMK’s S. Suganya, CPI’s P. Lakshmanan and NTK’s M. Karthika.
Together, the two Tamil Nadu constituencies have 49 candidates, with the multicornered contests drawing considerable political attention across the state.
Meanwhile, polling is also underway in Puducherry’s Thattanchavady Assembly constituency.
The vacancy arose after Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, who won two seats in the Assembly election, retained Mangalam and vacated Thattanchavady.
Votes in all three constituencies will be counted on October 9, with results expected the same day.
