Updated by admin on
Thursday, April 24, 2014 03:43 PM IST
Chennai:
Polling for the Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu was by and large peaceful, with an estimated 60 per cent having cast their votes by 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 24. 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu are up for grabs.
Tamil Nadu has single phase polling for the 5.51 crore electorate, with 845 candidates in the fray. High polling was reported in Dharmapuri (42 per cent by noon), Karur 39.6, Thanjavur 39.5 and Dindigul 39.8 per cent.
Prominent among candidates whose fate is decided on Thursday are DMK’s A Raja, Dayanidhi Maran and T R Baalu, Manishankar Aiyar of the Congress, MDMK leader Vaiko and PMK leader Anmbumani Ramadoss.
Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalallithaa, DMK president M Karunanidhi and his son M K Stalin, M K Alagiri, DMDK founder Vijaykanth, Congress leader G K Vasan, Tamil actors Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Vijay, Ajith Kumar and Kushboo were prominent among those who had cast their votes in Chennai.
In Puducherry, about 36 per cent of the 8.85 lakh electorate had cast their votes till noon, where Minister of State in PMO V Narayanaswamy of Congress is seeking re-election.
Voting is also taking place for the Alandur Assembly by-election caused by the resignation of Panruti S Ramachandran, former chairman of DMDK.
Brisk polling was Tiruchirapalli and in the sensitive areas of Chidambaram-reserved constituency. In some areas, polling was delayed due to fault in the Electronic Voting Machines, including the Corporation Primary School at Subramaniapuram in Tiruchi city.
The District Collectors and Returning Officers Jayashree Muralidharan (Tiruchi), Darez Ahamed (Perambalur), N. Subbaiyan (Thanjavur), S. Natarajan (Tiruvarur) and E. Saravanavelraj (Ariyalur) cast their votes.
R Vaithilingam, State Housing and Rural Development Minister, cast his vote in the panchayat union primary school, Telungankudi village near Orathanad in Thanjavur district.
Mayiladuthurai constituency recorded 12 per cent polling in the first two hours, Nagapattinam constituency registered 15 per cent, Perambalur 13 per cent, Chidambaram reserved constituency 13.6 per cent, Thanjavur 15 per cent and Tiruchi constituency 16 per cent by noon.
Polling in Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituency was peaceful with 46.5 per cent of the 13.46 lakh electorate casting their votes till 1 p.m.
Sitting Congress MP, B Manicka Tagore, and MDMK leader Vaiko are seeking election from this constituency.
At Valliyur panchayat near Virudhunagar, 250 persons belonging to Mutharaiyar community staged a protest with black flags complaining that there was a plot to black-out the name of their village, P. Kumaralingapuram, the main village of the panchayat. The village name was found in the electors'photo identity cards (EPIC) issued in the past but was reportedly missing in the the voter slips issued a few days ago.
Charging another dominant community with plotting to change their village name P. Kumaralingapuram to Valliyur, they said even the ration cards did not bear the village name.
At a polling booth in Aruppukottai Assembly constituency, the entire village of Kosugundu boycotted the poll, stating that the officials had deliberately shifted 167 voters of the village to another booth in the neighbouring K. Muthusamyapuram village in this election.
