Election campaigning for the RK Nagar Assembly seat ended today ahead of voting to be held on Thursday.
The main contenders for the Assembly seat are the ruling AIADMK, represented by Party President and Chairman, E Madhusudhanan, and the main opposition, DMK, which has fielded Marudhu Ganesh, a newbie.
A dark horse in the fray is TTV Dhinakaran, who was previously with the ruling party as its Deputy General Secretary. He is now contesting as an independent after being sidelined in an internal squabble.
The BJP has also fielded a candidate, Karu Nagarajan, a first-time contestant.
There are 59 contestants, including independents and smaller regional parties, contesting to represent this constituency in North Chennai – this by-poll is being held to fill the vacancy caused by the death of the former Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa, in December 2016.
Tight contestIt is a keenly watched contest as it comes in the backdrop of the vacuum in leadership within the ruling party following Jayalalithaa’s death, and the struggle and realignment of power within the party.
The Opposition DMK, supported by major parties, including the Congress, the CPI, CPI(M) and MDMK, led by Vaiko, has used this to raise doubts over AIADMK’s continuing credibility among voters.
It has positioned this by poll as a referendum on the AIADMK government, which retained power in 2016 Assembly elections.
For RK Nagar this is a second attempt at electing a candidate in the by-poll after the previous one planned in April was rescinded.
The Election Commission called it off ahead of polling following allegations of rampant bribing of voters by political parties.
The results of the by-poll will be announced on December 24