Over 5.79 crore voters in Tamil Nadu

Over 5.79 crore voters in Tamil Nadu will be eligible to elect a new government on May 16 casting their vote in 65,616 polling stations in 234 assembly constitutencies, said Election Commission of India on Friday.

In the neighbouring Puducherry, over 9.27 voters will be able to exercise their democratic right on May 16 in 913 polling stations in 30 assembly constituencies.

Counting of votes will be held on May 19, along with the three other states - Assam, Kerala, and West Bengal - where assembly elections will be held.

The terms of current Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assemblies are set to expire on May 22 and June 2 respectively.

According to the poll panel, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be deployed in 17 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu and three in Puducherry.

In order to facilitate the electors in identifying the candidates, the commission has prescribed an additional measure by way of adding provision for printing the photograph of candidate also on the ballot to be displayed on the electronic voting machine and on postal ballot papers.

This will also take care of likely confusion when candidates with same or similar names contest from the same constituency, the Commission said.

The poll commission also said the model code of conduct comes into play immediately in the poll bound Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.