Tamil Nadu records 39.61% polling, Puducherry 54.30% till 1 pm

Chennai: As voting continues in Tamil Nadu, over 39 per cent of the 6.28 crore voters have cast their votes across the 234 constituencies have cast their votes till 1 pm.

According to the Election Commission of India, 39.61 per cent of votes have been polled in the state till 1 p.m.

All major party leaders and Celebrities have cast their vote early. Chief Minister K.Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, DMK President M.K. Stalin, PMK Founder S.Ramadoss, Congress leader P. Chidambaram, DMDK Treasurer Premalatha Vijayakant, NTK leader Seeman, MNM leader Kamal Haasan, AMMK leader T.T.V.Dhinakaran are some important personalities who have come early to the polling booth.

Similarly, the Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo, who is managing the poll show in the state, too cast his vote

From the cinema field, Megastar Rajinikanth, star couple Ajit Kumar and Shalini, Vijay, Surya, Karthi and Sivakumar have cast their votes.

Ajith turned up at the polling booth in Thiruvanmiyur as early as 07:00 am, with his wife actor Shalini, to avoid the fan crowd. In fact, he was one of the first few Kollywood celebrities to cast his vote.

Acto Vijay was seen riding a bicycle from his residence to the polling booth in Neelankaraim while his fans followed him in two-wheelers. The video went viral on social media, as many argued his move was apparently a protest against growing fuel prices.

A total of 88,937 polling booths are there in the state and over 1,59,165 electronic voting machines have been deployed.

Meanwhile, Puducherry recorded 54.30 per cent polling at 1.30 p.m.

The Union Territory has just over 10 lakh voters and the fight for the 30-member Assembly is majorly between the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) consisting of Congress (contesting in 14 seats), DMK (13), CPI, VCK (one seat each) and an Independent.

The rival National Democratic Alliance (NDA) comprises of All India N.R. Congress (16 seats), BJP (9) and AIADMK (5).