82% voter turnout recorded in Vikravandi assembly bypoll

CHENNAI: 82 percentage of votes have been recorded in the Vikravandi assembly bypoll on Wednesday.

Voting in the constituency in Villupuram district began at 7 am and will concluded at 6 pm.

DMK candidate Aniyur Siva (53) was one of the first to cast his vote and expressed confidence of winning the bypoll with a huge margin.

While the DMK candidate cast his vote at Anniyur, the PMK's candidate C Anbumani (66) voted at Panaiyapuram.

There are 29 candidates in the fray but the main contest is between the DMK, the PMK, and the NTK who has fielded Dr Abinaya Ponnivalavan (28).

Since the AIADMK decided to refrain from contesting the bypoll, NTK chief Seeman and PMK leaders Ramadoss and Anbumani Ramadoss campiagned hard to garner the AIADMK's votes.

The July 10 election is going to be the second by-poll, after Erode East constituency, since the DMK returned to power in the 2021 assembly polls.

The Vikravandi bypoll was necessitated due to the death of DMK MLA Pugazhendi. He passed away from illness on April 6 this year.

Of the 276 polling booths in the assembly segment, 44 centers have been found to be vulnerable. A polling centre in Nemur is exclusively for female voters.

All necessary facilities have been made in the polling centres for people to cast their votes without any difficulty.

1,355 people including government officials, employees, and teachers, along with 53 micro observers are involved in election duty. They were trained in three stages. Yesterday, the District Election Officer and Collector Palani allocated the election duty to them through computers, according to a Daily Thanthi report.

2,651 police personnel led by Viluppuram DIG Disha Mittal are deployed. 220 central military force personnel too are stationed.

Once polling gets over, the electronic voting machines will be sealed and taken under police protection to the counting centre --- Government Higher Secondary School, Panayapuram. 

Counting of votes will be held on July 13.

By-elections are being conducted today for a total of 13 assembly constituencies across the country, including Vikravandi.

(With inputs from Bureau)