Chennai, Oct 6 (PTI) Polling ended peacefully on Tuesday for byelections to two Assembly Constituencies in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry that are being seen as a test of popularity for the incumbent coalition regimes headed by the TVK and AINRC respectively, with all three segments crossing the 80 per cent voting mark.
However, the voter turnout witnessed a dip in both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry when compared to the Assembly polls held in April this year.
In Tamil Nadu, Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly Constituencies, both reserved segments, registered a turnout of 86.26 and 80.30 per cent respectively, according to election authorities.
In 2026 April, Madurantakam and Dharapuram registered a voter turnout of 92.28 per cent and 88.92 per cent respectively, according to an official.
The outcome will be a measure of the public perception of the 4-month old TVK government headed by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, who seems to have invested much pride in the electoral battle. He addressed one public meeting each in both constituencies and took out extensive roadshows in Madurantakam and Dharapuram.
The Thattanchavady segment in Puducherry recorded a turnout of 80.81 per cent, while it was 87.20 per cent in April this year. In the Union Territory, the election is seen as a test of popularity for the four-month-old NDA government led by Chief Minister N Rangasamy, whose resignation from Thattanchavady necessitated the electoral exercise.
Since morning, people turned up enthusiastically at the polling stations to exercise their franchise and the pace, after a lag in the afternoon, picked momentum later.
CPI (M) Madurantakam candidate, P Suganthi, speaking to reporters, said youth participation was noticeably lower compared to the general election held four months ago.
The voting exercise, which began at 7 am and ended at 6 pm, was peaceful and minor technical glitches in respect of EVMs in some booths were swiftly addressed by officials.
Approximately 9,000 personnel, drawn from state/UT and Central Armed Police Forces were deployed in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for polling bandobust duty.
Following the conclusion of voting, EVMs were sealed and taken to strong rooms earmarked in educational institutions.
Counting of votes will be taken up on October 9.
No untoward incidents were reported and officials swiftly addressed some minor technical glitches in EVM-VVPAT equipment at some booths.
In Madurantakam, 27 candidates are trying their luck and the key nominees are ruling TVK’s Maragatham Kumaravel, DMK’s I Paranthamen, AIADMK’s Kanitha Sampath, CPI (M)’s P Suganthi, and NTK’s Janakiraman.
As regards Dharapuram, P Sathyabama (TVK), S Suganya (DMK), K Bhanumathi (AIADMK), P Lakshmanan (CPI) and M Karthika (NTK) are the key contestants out of the total 22 nominees contesting in the bypoll.
In Thattanchavady, although a total of 11 candidates are in the fray, the battle is being seen as a 3-cornered one between ruling AINRC-led NDA, the Congress and its former ally DMK.
The bypolls witnessed hectic campaign by CM Vijay, DMK President MK Stalin, Leader of Opposition Udhyanidhi Stalin and AIADMK supremo Edappadi K Palaniswami, something not seen usually during run up to byelections.
The elections are Vijay-led minority TVK regime’s first electoral litmus test after it formed the government in May and a win is important as it needs numbers to get close to the majority mark in the Assembly.
The outcome of bypolls is crucial for the main opposition DMK too as this is the first time the Stalin-led party is facing polls, after a long time, without the backing of erstwhile allies including the Congress, VCK, IUML and Left parties.
TVK formed its first government with the support of Congress, VCK, and IUML in addition to outside backing from the Left parties.
The Left Front, which neither joined the TVK-led alliance nor the government, turned critical of the actor-turned politician-led government on several issues and fielded candidates for bypolls.
Although the CPI and CPI (M), who have four MLAs, have time and again committed themselves to continue to support the government from outside, the fact that they have been pretty critical of the TVK and its governance model have led to questions over the stability of the nearly five-month old new regime.
As regards the AIADMK, which ruled Tamil Nadu for over three decades is under immense pressure to make an electoral comeback.
Horse-trading and betrayal allegations turned out to be key campaign themes of the Opposition, be it the AIADMK, DMK or the Left parties, as Kumaravel and Sathyabama quit the iconic MG Ramachandran founded party and their MLAs posts and joined the TVK.
A win for TVK will enable it to claim that the verdict was an endorsement of its good governance marked by zero tolerance for corruption, and a slew of welfare measures.
In the 234-member strong Tamil Nadu Assembly, after resignations by legislators, seven vacancies arose.
While CM Vijay retained Perambur constituency and resigned the Tiruchirappalli (East) seat, AIADMK’s Maragatham Kumaravel (Madurantakam), Sathyabama (Dharapuam), S Jayakumar (Perundurai), Esakki Subaya, (Ambasamudram), C Vijayabhaskar, (Viralimalai) and M R Vijayabhaskar, (Karur) resigned their seats.
Presently the TVK has 107 MLAs (including Speaker), DMK 59, AIADMK 41, Congress 5, PMK 4, CPI and CPI (M) two each, VCK 2 and IUML 2. BJP, DMDK, AMMK have one MLA each. The effective House strength is 227.
Bypolls were announced by the EC for Madurantakam and Dharapuram as petitions related to the resignation of MLAs and connected matters were pending before the Madras High Court. PTI CORR JSP VGN VGN SA
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