RK Nagar polls see 77 per cent voter turnout

The crucial bypoll to former chief minister J Jayalalithaa's constituency, RK Nagar Assembly, saw record 77 per cent voter turnout on Thursday, in the closely-fought election where an exit poll predicted the victory of sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran.

The RK Nagar bypoll is seen as an acid test for the ruling AIADMK as it is the first election since Jayalalithaa's death.

Though as many as 59 candidates are contesting, the RK Nagar bypoll is mainly seen as a fight between the ruling AIADMK's E. Madhusudhanan, its rival faction led by TTV Dhinakaran and main opposition party DMK's N. Marudhu Ganesh.

An exit poll done by News X and Cauvery News predicted Dhinakaran as the clear winner with 37 per cent of the respondents supposedly voting for him. The ruling AIADMK's candidate came second with 26 per cent; while the DMK, which was expected to win, came third with 18 per cent.

Asked about what he thinks about the exit polls that predicted he would get 35 percent votes, Dhinakaran said, "I have no confidence in projections or exit polls or surveys. Me and my people have been on ground for 20 days and know the pulse of the public. We are all happy because we know we will win by a huge margin.".

DMK candidate N Marudhu Ganesh, after casting his vote, said that whether they distributed Rs 6,000 or Rs 60,000 to the voters, DMK would win the election and the public of RK Nagar would teach AIADMK a lesson this time. Madhusudhanan claimed that he would win the election with the grace of God and Amma.

The counting of votes will take place on December 24.