Brisk polling in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry
By IANSWednesday, May 13, 2009
CHENNAI - Brisk polling was witnessed in the first four hours in 39 parliamentary constituencies of Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in the union territory of Puducherry where general elections were underway Wednesday.
Most voting stations opened at 7 a.m. However, poll officials said voting was delayed in around 40 booths in Chennai and a few others across the state owing to malfunctioning electronic voting machines (EVMs).
By 11 a.m., 20 percent voter turnout was recorded in Tamil Nadu and 33 percent in Puducherry.
In all, 41.6 million people are eligible to decide the fate of 823 candidates, including 41 women, in Tamil Nadu.
Prominent candidates include Home Minister P. Chidambaram, union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and E.V.K.S. Elangovan of the Congress; Dayanidhi Maran, M.K. Azhagiri and T.R. Baalu of the DMK; and MDMK’s Vaiko.
There are 52,175 polling stations in the state. Of them, 4,043 have been declared hyper sensitive and 16,938 as sensitive.
In Puducherry, about 760,000 voters are eligible to cast their votes in 852 polling stations. The main fight is between M. Ramadass of the DMK and V. Narayanasamy of the Congress.
