Around 75 per cent voting in Tamil Nadu bypoll

Chennai: Voting for the bypoll in Sankarankoil Assembly constituency of Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district came to an end Sunday with around 75 per cent of the voters casting their ballot.

The electoral fate of 13 contestants including six independents is now sealed in electronic voting machines (EVM) in the 242 polling booths in the constituency.

An Election Commission of India official said around 75 per cent of the 206,087 voters (male 102,921, female 103,166) exercised their democratic rights.

Five major parties AIADMK, DMK, DMDK, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the MDMK are in the fray.

The final voting percentage will be known after some time as there are still people waiting to cast their ballots, he said.

MDMK general secretary Vaiko cast his vote at Kalingapatti village.

Five major parties AIADMK, DMK, DMDK, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and MDMK are in the fray.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of sitting member, AIADMK's C Karuppasamy, in October 2011 due to ill health.

The AIADMK has fielded V Muthuselvi, while DMK and DMDK have pitted J Jawahar Suryakumar and K Muthukumar respectively against her.

MDMK which boycotted the Assembly polls last year has fielded T Sadan Thirumalaikumar while the BJP's candidate is L Murugan.

Counting of votes will begin at 8 am on Wednesday, said a poll official.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)