New Delhi--Voting has begun in byelections in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Polling in Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency, from where Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa is seeking re-election, began today at 8 AM amid tight security. The byelection was necessitated after AIADMK’s P Vetrivel had vacated it in May, apparently to enable Jayalalithaa seek re-election.
Twenty eight candidates, including social activist “Traffic” Ramaswamy are in the fray. However, the main contest is between Jayalalithaa and CPI nominee C Mahendran.
One of the smallest constituencies in Tamil Nadu, R K Nagar has 1,20,210 men voters and 1,23,014 women voters and 77 voters of the other category, the third gender, according to the Election Commission.
Security personnel, including from the Central police forces, have been deployed to ensure peaceful polling across the 230 polling stations.
Six static surveillance teams, 28 flying squads and 15 pickets for area domination purposes have been set up.
All the polling stations are also covered by micro observers and the entire poll proceedings is being recorded using laptops with camera and internet connectivity.
Opinion polls have been prohibited for 48 hours, commencing from 5 PM on June 25. Exit polls have also been banned between 7 am and 5.30 pm today.
In the Kerala bypoll, voting began at 7 am in Aruvikkara which is witnessing a three-cornered contest with voters queuing up at polling booths despite rains.
The bypoll, necessitated following the death of former Speaker and Congress leader G Karthikeyan, is a crucial test for both UDF and LDF as the Assembly poll is only an year away.
A total of 152 polling booths have been set up in the constituency. Security personnel, including those from BSF, are posted at some sensitive booths to ensure smooth conduct of polling.
UDF is banking on the “various welfare and development initiatives” of the four-year-old government while LDF and BJP attack the government on the solar and bar bribe scams and alleged corruptions in the PWD ministry.
For UDF, which came to power with a wafer thin majority of two MLA’s in 2011 and is riding on the slogan of “development and care”, the result is widely considered as a referendum on the performance of the government.
Congress, in a bid to gain “sympathy wave”, has nominated 33-year-old K S Sabarinath, son of Karthikeyan as its candidate.
LDF which is eying to capture the seat from Congress has fielded 66-year-old former assembly Speaker and minister M Vijayakumar (CPI-M) as its candidate.
M Vijaykumar is the LDF candidate while BJP has put up former Union Minister O Rajagopal.
INDIAN EXPRESS
