A record number of people turned up to vote in the crucial Nellithope by-election on Saturday where Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy is pitted against Om Sakthi Sekar of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
In the by-poll, the constituency witnessed a record 85.76 per cent voter turnout, surpassing the polling percentage of 85.44 recorded in the 2016 Assembly elections.
Though there were six other candidates in the fray, the battle for Nellithope is a two-way fight between Mr. Narayanasamy and Mr. Sekar, who is a two-time MLA from the constituency.
Steady flow
There had been a steady flow of voters to the booths from early morning to cast their franchise in the by-poll, necessitated after A. John Kumar of the Congress party quit the MLA post to enable Mr. Narayanasamy, a non- member in the 30 member Legislative Assembly, to seek a mandate for governance.
Long queues were witnessed in several polling stations as the young, elderly and differently abled- persons, cutting across all sections of society, turned up in large numbers from 6. 30 a.m, though polling started at 7 a.m. In fact, the voting percentage touched the 40 per cent mark within four hours of polling.
Nellithope has an electorate of 31,366 comprising 16,418 women and 14,939 men. Apart from this, there are five NRI and four service votes in the constituency.
The District Election officials had pressed in several student volunteers, who, along with police personnel, were seen guiding the elderly and differently abled persons to the polling booths and helping them cast their votes.
Though the by-election was peaceful with no untoward incidents to mar the election process, a road roko by AIADMK cadre led by Mr. Sekar at Saram junction brought some tense moments.
Road roko
The AIADMK members resorted to road roko to protest the alleged inaction of election authorities to evict Congress workers brought from outside the constituency.
They withdrew the agitation after police promised to take action against outsiders staying in the constituency during the polling time.
Mr. Sekar, after exercising franchise in a polling booth at Naveena Garden, said the Chief Minister had violated the Model Code of Conduct by seeking votes inside the polling booth.
Talking to media persons near a polling booth, the Chief Minister said he would win by a huge margin and also thanked the Election Commission for taking adequate steps to conduct the by-poll in a free and fair manner.
Mr. Narayanasamy conducted a whirlwind tour of all polling booths. He does not have a vote in the constituency. He is a registered voter in the nearby Raj Bhavan constituency.
The Congress has exuded confidence that the Chief Minister would win the seat by a huge margin not just because of the higher voter turnout but considering the electoral history of the constituency. John Kumar secured the seat with a margin of 12,156 votes.
They said even when Mr. Narayanasamy lost the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Nellithope was the one constituency where he secured more votes than the sitting member of Parliament R. Radhakrishnan representing the All India N. R Congress.
Counting of votes is scheduled for Tuesday.
Om Sakthi Sekar accused the CM of violating the model code by seeking votes inside a booth
