Senior poll officials including the district election Officer D Karthikeyan inspected the polling stations. Gun-toting Central Armed Police Force personnel in their trademark green uniforms were stationed at all the polling stations and across the 45 checkposts in and around the RK Nagar constituency.
Some voters complained that their names were deleted, othes claimed their names were struck off the rolls wrongly categorising them as "dead."
There were, however, sporadic complaints of snag in EVMs, and consequential delay. Serpentine queues were witnessed in booth after booth, right from 8 am when voting began with women outnumbering men in several of them.Ī large number of people were awaiting their turn to vote even at the scheduled close of voting at five pm.Īll those who were present inside the polling stations ahead of the 5 pm deadline were given tokens by officials to ensure that they exercised their franchise. Voting at 258 polling stations passed off peacefully with 2500 state police personnel, 15 companies of Central Armed Police Forces and 1638 election officers manning the poll process.
The 2015 RK Nagar bypoll in which Jayalalithaa was elected by a huge margin of 1.5 lakh votes for the first time in this segment had witnessed a record 75 percent turnout. The run up to the bypoll saw political parties and candidates holding as many as 152 public meetings and taking out 605 processions with the campaigning ending on 19 December. The ruling AIADMK got back its Two Leaves election symbol back following merger of factions led by Palaniswami and former rebel O Panneerselvam. Of the 59 candidates in the fray, the fight is essentially triangular with the key contenders being ruling AIADMK's E Madhusudhanan, main opposition DMK candidate N Maruthu Ganesh and Dhinakaran, contesting as an independent. The DMK is putting up a tough fight to wrest the seat after a hiatus of over two decades. The bypoll is being seen as an acid test for the Chief Minister E Palaniswamy and his deputy O Panneeerselvam-led ruling AIADMK which is facing a strong challenge from Dhinakaran and an aggressive DMK. RK Nagar, represented twice by Jayalalithaa, has an electorate of 2,28,234, comprising 1,10,903 men, 1,17,232 women and 99 transgenders.Įlection officials said 79.21 percent of women voters exercised their franchise while 75.92 percent of men cast their votes. The voter turnout is higher than the 68 percent recorded in the 2016 Assembly election,according to officials. Election officials in Chennai said there may be some variation in the figure after taking into consideration the polling percentage at some booths where voting went on beyond 5 pm. Voting for the RK Nagar bypoll passed off peacefully amid tight security. Thanking voters, the sidelined AIADMK leader has vowed to bring down the EPS-OPS government in the state “within three months”. After a record voter turnout of 77.68 percent on Thursday, the counting of votes for the high-profile RK Nagar Assembly seat will take place on Sunday. TTV Dinakaran has declared himself as the “true political heir” of the late J Jayalalithaa after zooming ahead in the by-election to RK Nagar assembly seat in Tamil Nadu.
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