Three Tamil Nadu Assembly seats up for grabs today

Chennai: The constituencies of Aravakurichi and Thanjavur, where polling was deferred due to large scale violations including distribution of money, will go to the Assembly polls on Saturday along with the by-election to Thiruparankundram constituency caused by the death of the elected MLA. An estimated 7.39 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the three Assembly elections where campaigning came to an end on Thursday evening.

Saturday’s election will see a direct fight between ruling AIADMK and principal Opposition DMK in all three constituencies though the contest seems be a little tough this time with absence of charismatic Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa during the campaign.     

While the 1.97 lakh voters are eligible to vote in Aravakurichi in Karur district, Thanjavur has a total of 2.63 voters and Thiruparankundram in Madurai district (2.79 lakh). Votes polled on Saturday will be taken up for counting on Tuesday.

Votes polled

Despite all the ministers and AIADMK functionaries camping in the constituencies and leaving no stone unturned, it does not appear to be a cakewalk for the ruling party in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur. Several poll surveys see a close finish in Thanjavur, while some of them forecast a DMK win. Party Treasurer and Leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin led the DMK’s campaign.

While the AIADMK sought votes in the name of Ms Jayalalithaa and the “good work” done by her government, the DMK’s campaign focused on mismanagement of administration by the AIADMK Government.

Both AIADMK and DMK re-nominated candidates in Thanjavur and Aravakurichi, the ruling party fielded A.K. Bose and the DMK Dr Saravanan in Thiruparankundram. By-polls to this constituency in Madurai district was necessitated due to the death of MLA-elect S.M. Seenivel in May this year.

In Aravakurichi, AIADMK's Senthil Balaji is taking on DMK strongman K.C. Palanichamy, while AIADMK's M. Rengasamy is fielded against DMK's Anjugam Bhoopathy in Thanjavur.