Voting in Tamil Nadu began at 7 a.m. on Thursday in 38 Lok Sabha seats and 18 assembly constituencies where by-elections are being held. About 5.8 crore voters will decide the fate of 822 candidates in the Lok Sabha polls
Pic courtesy/Twitter/ANI
Tamil Nadu: Voters in a polling booth here were in for a pleasant surprise on Thursday when they spotted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami queuing up like other citizens to vote. Palaniswami, who heads the ruling AIADMK, displayed his voter identity card and the booth slip to the media before casting his vote in Edappadi.
Tamil Nadu: CM Edappadi K Palanisamy cast his vote at a polling station in Edappadi, Selam. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/mnh6hBLwwx
— ANI (@ANI) April 18, 2019
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The AIADMK and the DMK are leading the two main alliances in the battle for Tamil Nadu's 38 Lok Sabha seats. Voting in Tamil Nadu began at 7 a.m. on Thursday in 38 Lok Sabha seats and 18 assembly constituencies where by-elections are being held. About 5.8 crore voters will decide the fate of 822 candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. While Tamil Nadu has a total of 39 Lok Sabha constituencies, President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday rescinded the poll for Vellore constituency after the Income Tax (IT) department seized unaccounted cash from a cement warehouse of a DMK functionary.
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The Election Commission (EC) has said the cash was kept for distribution to voters and the situation was not conducive for holding free and fair elections in Vellore. Along with the polls for Lok Sabha in Tamil Nadu, a sort of mini Assembly election is also being held with the conduct of by-elections for 22 Assembly constituencies in two phases.While voting is on in 18-Assembly seats, the polling for the remaining four seats will be held on May 19.
Tamil Nadu: Nalini Chidambaram, Karti Chidambaram and his wife Srinidi Rangarajan casts their vote at a polling station in Karaikudi, Sivaganga. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/2C5hLVUsPb
— ANI (@ANI) April 18, 2019
Tamil Nadu: Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan and his daughter Shruti Haasan queue up outside polling station 27 at Alwarpet Corporation School in Chennai to cast their votes. #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/ufeYNJ3pdM
— ANI (@ANI) April 18, 2019
A total of 269 candidates are in the fray for the assembly by-elections. The results of both -- Parliamentary, and by-elections for 22 Assembly seats, will be declared on May 23. Polling will come to an end at 6 p.m. in all the polling booths barring in Madurai where voting will end at 8 p.m. owing to the Chithirai festival. The EC has identified about 8,200 booths as sensitive and vulnerable of the around 67,700 booths. Arrangements for live webcasting of the polling has been made in about 30,000 booths. At least 1.4 lakh security personnel have been deployed in the state for security. In a first, Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) has been deployed in all the polling booths, along with the electronic voting machine.
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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies
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