By IANS,
Chennai : Brisk voting was witnessed in the bypoll to the Sankarankoil assembly constituency of Tamil Nadu Sunday.Voting began at 8 a.m. in 242 polling booths in the constituency that falls in Tirunelveli district. Around 43 percent of votes had been cast by 12 p.m., said poll officials.
According to an the Election Commission of India (ECI), polling is progressing smoothly.
Thirteen candidates, including six independents, are in the fray, vying for votes from 206,087 voters (male 102,921, female 103,166).
MDMK general secretary Vaiko cast his vote at Kalingapatti village.
Five major parties AIADMK, DMK, DMDK, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and MDMK are in the fray.
The bypoll was necessitated by the death of sitting member, AIADMK’s C. Karuppasamy, in October 2011 due to ill health.
The AIADMK has fielded V. Muthuselvi, while DMK and DMDK have pitted J. Jawahar Suryakumar and K. Muthukumar respectively against her.
MDMK which boycotted the assembly polls last year has fielded T. Sadan Thirumalaikumar while the BJP’s candidate is L. Murugan.
Counting of votes will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday, said a poll offical.