CHENNAI: Polling in Madurantakam and Dharapuram by-elections, which commenced briskly on Tuesday morning registered 35.55 per cent and 37.28 per cent respectively in the SC reserved constituencies, as of 11 am, the poll body said.
The by polls hold immense political significance as a crucial litmus test for the ruling TVK and opposition in Tamil Nadu.
Madurantakam is located in the Chengalpattu district while Dharapuram is located in the Tiruppur district. Both reserved constituencies fell vacant after sitting AIADMK MLAs K Maragatham and P Sathyabama resigned from their posts to switch allegiance to actor Vijay's TVK.
Meanwhile, a bypoll is also underway in Thattanchavady constituency, located in the Union Territory of Puducherry, which was necessitated after Chief Minister N Rangasamy, who contested and won two assembly seats in the previous election, chose to vacate the Thattanchavady assembly seat to retain the Mangalam assembly constituency.
Serving as a high-stakes battle, the bypolls mark a multicornered contest between the TVK, DMK, AIADMK, Left parties, and NTK.
Voting commenced at 7 am and would go on till 6 pm across 285 polling stations in Madurantakam and 320 polling centres in Dharapuram, where a total of 49 candidates are totally in the fray.
The votes polled in Madurantakam, Dharapuram and Thattanchavady will be counted on October 9, with the results expected to be announced the same day.
The Madurantakam SC-reserved constituency has 2,13,788 voters, including 1,04,926 men, 1,08,797 women and 65 transgender persons. There are 285 polling stations.
Twenty-seven candidates, including 17 independents, are in the fray. The key candidates are S Kanitha Sampath (AIADMK), I Paranthamen (DMK), K Maragatham Kumaravel (TVK), P Suganthi (CPM) and G Janakiraman (NTK).
A total of 342 EVMs, including a 20% reserve, will be used for the bye-election.
The Dharapuram SC-reserved constituency has a total of 2,23,306 voters, comprising 1,07,285 men, 1,16,013 women and eight third-gender voters, are eligible to vote at 320 polling stations across 186 centres.
Twenty-two candidates are in the fray, with the main contestants being TVK’s P Sathyabama, AIADMK’s K Banumathi, DMK’s S Suganya, CPI’s P Lakshmanan and NTK’s M Karthika.