Voting ends in bypolls to 4 Assembly seats in TN (3rd Lead)

Polling in bypolls to four assembly seats in Tamil Nadu - Aravakuruchi, Sulur, Thiruparankundram and Ottapidaram - came to end at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Similarly, repolling in 13 booths in Erode, Dharmapuri, Tiruvallur and Cuddalore Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu also came to an end.

Voting in the crucial by-election in the four assembly seats was brisk and peaceful except for a complaint by the ruling AIADMK to the state's Chief Electoral Officer against Aravakuruchi constituency's DMK candidate Senthil Balaji for "wrongfully restraining voters in two localities in the constituency from voting".

The Election Commission said that as of 5 p.m., 67.18 per cent voting was recorded in Sulur, 79.49 per cent in Aravakuruchi, 66.77 per cent in Thiruparankundram and 61.99 per cent in Ottapidaram.

Voters in the four Assembly constituencies have sealed the electoral fate of 137 candidates in the fray.

The main contest is between the ruling AIADMK, principal Opposition party DMK and Independent legislator T.T.V.Dhinakaran-floated AMMK.

Actor-politician Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) also has candidates in the fray.

By-elections for 18 other vacant Assembly constituencies were held on April 18, along with the Lok Sabha polls in the state.

In the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, the AIADMK has 113 members (including the Speaker), the DMK 88, the Congress 8, the IUML and the Independent one each.

To attain a simple majority, the AIADMK has to win just five seats in the by-elections. In order to be safe against switching of camps by some of the lawmakers, the AIADMK has to win seven or eight seats.

Three AIADMK legislators were issued show cause notices by Speaker P. Dhanapal as the ruling party felt that they were moving towards Dhinakaran. However, the Supreme Court has stayed the disqualification proceedings against the three lawmakers.

On the other hand, the DMK (88 members) has to win all the 22 seats to take the tally along with its allies -- Congress (eight members) and IUML (one member) -- to 119, just one over a simple majority.

DMK President M.K. Stalin said that along with the change in the Central government after May 23 - the day on which the Lok Sabha and by-election results will be declared -- there will be a change of government in Tamil Nadu.

--IANS

vj/vd