77% TURNOUT IN RK NAGAR BYELECTION
CHENNAI: Polling for the RK Nagar assembly bypoll ended without any major incident, with 77% of the voters exercising their franchise by 5pm.
Polling, which was a little over 20% at around 11am, saw a spurt after the 2G verdict acquitting DMK leaders — A Raja and Kanimozhi — was announced by a special CBI court. Nine election observers were posted by the Election Commission (EC).
AIADMK fielded its veteran leader E Madhusudhanan against rebel AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran contesting as an Independent. DMK candidate N Marudhu Ganesh completes the triangular contest, even though for the record, the BJP is also contesting. It has fielded local party worker K Nagarajan as its candidate. In all, there were 59 candidates in the fray. The counting of votes will take place on December 24. Elaborate security arrangements were made with around 15 companies of paramilitary forces and over 3,000 security personnel posted across the constituency.
RK Nagar has 2.26 lakh voters of whom 1.16 lakh are women.
Chennai police commissioner AK Viswanathan was on the spot, overseeing the law and order situation. The DMK had alleged that police had helped the ruling party distribute money to voters.
The bypoll to the same constituency was countermanded in April this year when complaints of large-scale bribery were made and I-T officials recovered a sum of ₹89 crore from an aide of state health minister C Vijayabhaskar.
It was at the prodding of the Madras HC that the EC held the bypoll. The HC had, on November 21, ordered the poll panel to hold a by-election before December 31.