The Election Commission has deferred voting for the state Assembly in two Tamil Nadu constituencies by three weeks, reports said. Aravakurichi and Thanjavur were scheduled to vote on May 23, which is now when re-elected Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is expected to be sworn in. Voting in the two areas had been postponed after the EC found that money was spent to buy votes in both constituencies.

The election agency had seized Rs 6.75 crore in illegal cash in Aravakurichi earlier this month. In a statement it had said polling there was postponed "so that the vitiating effect of the money power created by the distribution of money and gift items to the electors of the constituency loses its intensity and a more congenial atmosphere conducive to the conduct of free and fair election is created".

On Thursday, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader J Jayalalithaa was voted back to power. She is the first chief minister of Tamil Nadu to be re-elected in 32 years.