Chennai: As the single-phase polling for the parliamentary election ended on Friday evening, Tamil Nadu saw 72.09 per cent electorate exercising its franchise till 7 pm sealing the fates of prominent candidates, including that of a brother and sister — MK Vishnuprasad (Congress, Cuddalore) and Sowmiya Anbumani (PMK-NDA Dharmapuri); an aunt Tamilisai Soundararajan (BJP, Chennai South) and nephew Vijay Vasanth (Congress, Kanniyakumari).
The voters also sealed the fate of MK Stalin, a PMK candidate in Mayiladuthurai who shares his name and initials with the DMK president and Chief Minister, and CN Annadurai, a DMK candidate in Tiruvannamalai, who shares the name and initials with the party founder and former chief minister. As voting ended, BJP state president K Annamalai, one of the star candidates of the poll season, alleged the names of one lakh voters, most of who he claimed were BJP supporters, were missing in his Coimbatore constituency.
Likewise, his party colleague and candidate from Chennai Central Vinoj made a similar claim. Chief Electoral Office Satyabrata Sahoo told journalists the polling figures are likely to be marginally revised when final details come in. There were no major incidents of violence in the southern state. While Kallakurichi in northern Tamil Nadu polled the highest 75.67 per cent votes, Chennai Central recorded the lowest figure of 67.35 per cent. On complaints of missing voter names, Sahoo said: “We have to look into the circumstances under which they were removed.” As for the demand for repolling by Annamalai, he said, a decision would be taken after receiving reports from the presiding officers. independent observers and political parties.
