CHENNAI: The counting of votes polled in the February 5 by-election to the Erode East assembly segment commenced here on Saturday morning. The counting began at 8 am at a government college at Chithode in this district.

Postal ballots were taken up for counting first. Later, the EVMs would be opened. Earlier, on Wednesday, the western segment had recorded a voter turn out of 67.97 per cent.

There are 46 candidates, including 44 independents, in the fray and the contest is only between the ruling DMK's VC Chandirakumar and Tamil nationalist party, Naam Tamilar Katchi's (NTK) MK Seethalakshmi.

Opposition parties, including the main opposition AIADMK, have boycotted the polls. The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MLA EVKS Elangovan last year.