30% voter turnout in Vellore LS bypoll till 1 p.m

Nearly 30 per cent of the 14.32 lakh voters cast their votes on Monday in the Vellore Parliamentary bypoll till 1 p.m, officials said.

There were no untoward incidents so far, police said, even as there were some reports of VVPAT malfunctioning.

The constituency is witnessing a fight between AIADMK and DMK, with AC Shanmugam of the ruling party taking on Kathir Anand, son of senior DMK leader Durai Murugan.

Election Commission officials said 29.46 per cent of voters had cast their vote by 1 p.m in the six Assembly constituencies covered under the Vellore Lok Sabha segment.

Though polling was originally scheduled in Vellore on April 18 along with the rest of the 38 Parliamentary segments in Tamil Nadu, it was then rescinded after Income Tax officials seized money allegedly meant to bribe voters.

Earlier, the DMK-led alliance had swept the April 18 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu, winning 37 constituencies in the state and the lone segment in the neighbouring Puducherry.