Tamil Nadu: 72% voting recorded in Vellore parliamentary election
AIADMK leader AC Shanmugam, DMK’s Kathir Anand and Naam Tamilar Katchi’s Deepa Lakshmi are the prominent candidates in the fray.
The election to the Vellore Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu on Monday recorded nearly 72% polling, PTI reported. The elections were cancelled in April after allegations of money being used to influence voters. The rest of the state went to the polls on April 18.
State’s Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said “about 72 per cent” of the total 14.32 lakh voters cast their votes in the six Assembly constituencies covered under the Vellore Lok Sabha segment. “The final figures are still awaited,” Sahoo was quoted as saying by the news agency.
The police said no untoward incidents were reported during the polling even as there were some reports of EVMs and VVPATs malfunctioning.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader AC Shanmugam, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s Kathir Anand and Naam Tamilar Katchi’s Deepa Lakshmi are the prominent candidates in the fray along with 25 others. Former AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam and Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam have not fielded candidates.
Votes will be counted on August 9.
In April, the Election Commission had said that its recommendation for countermanding the polls was “based on detection of a systematic design to influence voters” in the constituency. The poll panel had said its advice to President Ram Nath Kovind was related to search and seizure operations carried out at the homes of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Treasurer Durai Murugan and his son on March 29 and March 30.
The parliamentary elections in the state were swept by the DMK-led United Progressive Alliance won 37 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats, bucking the national trend.