Voting crosses half way mark in Tamil Nadu on Thursday

Polling in the 38 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu crossed the half way mark on Thursday with 52.02 per cent of the total 5.8 voters casting their vote.

Speaking to reporters here, Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said 52.02 per cent of the eligible voters had voted by 3 p.m.

In 2014, polling of about 73 per cent was registered.

Sahoo said 55.97 per cent polling was recorded in the 18 Assembly seats where by-elections were being held.

He said a total of 384 faulty electronic voting machines and 692 faulty Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were replaced across the state.

Polling was smooth and there were no reports of voting being stalled due to faulty machines, he said.

He said voters who do not have the booth slips could vote showing any one of the permitted identity papers.

About 5.8 crore voters will decide the fate of 822 candidates in the Lok Sabha battle in the state. Polling started at 7 a.m. and would continue till 6 p.m.

Among the early voters were Chief Minister K. Palaniswami, DMK President M.K. Stalin, actor-politician Rajinikanth, DMDK leader Vijayakanth, PMK’s S. Ramadoss and Anbumani Ramadoss, Congress’ P. Chidambaram, BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararjan, Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) founder Kamal Haasan and DMK leader Kanimozhi as well as actors Ajith, Vijay and Surya.

IANS