CHENNAI: Polling for the 234 Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu began on a brisk note this morning with about 4.6 crore voters expected to decided the fate of 2,773 candidates.
Political heavyweights whose fortunes will be decided today include Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi, his arch rival and AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa, Karunanidhi’s son and Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin and DMDK actor-founder Vijayakanth.
People came out in good numbers early in the morning and queued up before booths as polling began under the watchful eyes of security personnel who have been deployed in good strength.
In the union territory of Puducherry also, the polling to elect 30 members to the Assembly began with a brisk note and large queues were seen before the booths.
Polling in Kerala begins on brisk note
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Voting started this morning in all the 140 Assembly segments in Kerala, where the main fight is between the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF.
As per the reports from across the state, the voters’ turn-up was brisk. A total of 971 candidates are in the fray — many of them are independents.
Over 1.25 lakh security personnel have been deployed for peaceful conduct of the voting in 20,578 polling stations.
Besides the state police, contingents from other states and central paramilitary forces had been deployed for smooth conduct of the elections.
Around 2.31 crore people, including 8862 NRIs, will exercise their franchise today.
The campaigning for the elections had remained by and large peaceful but for sporadic clashes on the concluding day.(PTI)
