RK Nagar Bypoll: 73.45 Per Cent Voting Recorded

The key contenders in the poll are ruling AIADMK's E Madhusudhanan, main opposition DMK candidate N Maruthu Ganesh and sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, contesting as an Independent.

Chennai, December 21: RK Nagar Assembly constituency registered 73.45 per cent voting in the prestigious by-election. The by-election was being held to fill the vacancy caused by the death of sitting MLA and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa in December 2016.

Polling began at 8 AM, with people arriving to exercise their franchise across booths in the constituency in North Chennai, braving the misty conditions.

RK Nagar, represented twice by Jayalalithaa, has an electorate strength of 2,28,234 — comprising 1,10,903 men, 1,17,232 women and 99 transgenders.

The key contenders in the poll are ruling AIADMK’s E Madhusudhanan, main opposition DMK candidate N Maruthu Ganesh and sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, contesting as an Independent.

The bypoll is being seen as an acid test for the AIADMK, as it is the first election since the death of Jayalalithaa and after it got the ‘Two Leaves’ election symbol back following the merger of the factions led by Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his present deputy and former rebel O Panneerselvem.

Jailed leader VK Sasikala-Dhinakaran camp lost the symbol case before the Election Commission which in November held that the EPS and OPS group commanded majority in the party’s organisational and legislature wings.

Though as many as 59 candidates are in the fray including from the BJP, it is mainly seen as a fight between the AIADMK, its rival faction led by Dhinakaran and DMK.
Madhusudanan is a party veteran who hails from the constituency. Ganesh too hails from the area.

Elaborate security arrangements were in place with about 2,000 state police personnel, 15 companies of Central Armed Police Forces, including CRPF, deployed across 256 polling stations.

The polling process was monitored by nine observers, considered the highest for a single assembly constituency.

With inputs from PTI