RK Nagar By-Election LIVE: God and Amma's Grace With Us, Says AIADMK Candidate Madhusudhanan

Heavy security deployment at the RK Nagar constituency during the polling process. (Image: Deepa Balakrishnan/News18)

Refuting allegations of bribery levelled against him by the AIADMK camp, TTV Dinakaran on Thursday said, “The people of RK Nagar trust me. Why will I try to bribe them?” Speaking on the Jayalalithaa video that released by one of his supporters, Dinakaran said that the he can’t react to the footage as it might lead to influencing voters during the poll process.

The video footage showing a frail looking AIADMK supremo in a nightdress and sipping what appeared to be a health drink with a straw, was released by Vetrivel, disqualified AIADMK MLA and election agent of Dinakaran, contesting the bypoll as an Independent. A police complaint was lodged by Returning Officer of RK Nagar assembly constituency against Vetrivel, who said he released it in view of doubts raised over the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation and death.

Ever since her death, many conspiracy theories have been doing the rounds. In April, during the campaign for RK Nagar bypoll, the faction led by O Panneerselvam paraded a replication of Jayalalithaa's mortal remains to remind voters of the doubts raised over her 75-day hospitalisation before her death. Both warring factions of the AIADMK tried to garner votes using Jayalalithaa's name and memory.

A voter had taken his pet dog along with him to a polling booth in RK Nagar.

Chennai: A voter who had come to cast his vote along with his pet dog turned away by authorities. The voter finally cast his vote after leaving his dog with his friend who had also come for casting vote. #RKNagarByPoll pic.twitter.com/BS9L38AeiS

— ANI (@ANI) December 21, 2017

Voters stand in queue outside polling booths in the RK Nagar constituency amid heavy security deployment. (Image: Kalimuthu Saravanan/News18)

RK Nagar constituency was always an AIADMK bastion since 1990s. It is this constituency where J Jayalalithaa won twice-- once in 2015 and the other in 2016. Vetrivel, who released the purported video, had vacated the RK Nagar constituency for Jayalalithaa in 2015 after she was acquitted in the disproportionate assets case. The video shows a convalescing Jayalalithaa sipping some sort of a fruit juice. The video was apparently shot by Sasikala inside Apollo Hospital.

Ever since Jayalalithaa's demise last year, her close aide VK Sasikala and her family have been indirectly blamed for the death. Now, it is being alleged that the faction led by Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dinakaran tried to woo the voters by releasing a video of Jayalalithaa in hospital. P Vetrivel, a Dinakaran loyalist said that he released the video after there were pamphlets and posters that blamed the family for the death.

Just a day ahead of the high profile RK Nagar bypoll, a video purportedly showing a frail Jayalalithaa at the Apollo hospital was released by sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran's loyalist on Wednesday. Amid questions raised about the timing of the 20-second video, election officials asked TV channels to stop telecasting it saying it was a violation of the model code of conduct.

Merged AIADMK's candidate E. Madhusudhanan has cast his vote for the RK Nagar bypoll.

Chennai: AIADMK candidate E. Madhusudhanan cast his vote, says "God and Amma's grace is with us" #RKNagarByPoll #TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/6xadQI66Yj

— ANI (@ANI) December 21, 2017

After battling a prolonged illness for three months, late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa passed away on December 5 last year. After her death, the Sasikala camp and the Panneerselvam-Palaniswami camp has had a bitter parting and ever since, both parties have considered the RK Nagar bypoll as a test case to claim Jaya's political legacy.

Voters queue up outside polling stations in RK Nagar constituency for the bypoll that will have heavy bearings on the politics of Tamil Nadu. (Image: Kalimuthu Saravanan/News18)

Apart from a total of Rs 30 lakh in unaccounted cash, fifteen persons have been remanded so far to judicial custody and 122 taken into preventive custody. Police have also seized 83 vehicles for violations in the run up to the high voltage RK Nagar bypoll.

The TTV faction, DMK as well as the ruling the AIADMK are handing out Rs 20 for every vote. We have also complained to the Election Commission but it seems that the poll body is helpless," BJP candidate K Nagarajan tells News18.

It has been alleged that the TTV Dinakaran camp has distributed pressure cookers worth Rs 1.5 crore to the RK Nagar voters ahead of the election. Allegations of Dinakaran's supporters paying Rs 300 to those who attended rally were also rife. Meanwhile, BJP candidate K Nagarajan has alleged that the Election Commission has done nothing about these allegations.

#BREAKING | BJP candidate Karu Nagarajan alleges that TTV faction is bribing voters. He claims the EC is not doing anything about this. #RKNagarBypoll#LIVE: https://t.co/uIc9ngQL3E pic.twitter.com/xPFv9QbtGF

— News18 (@CNNnews18) December 21, 2017

Rival parties and candidates for the RK Nagar bypoll has levelled serious allegations of bribing voters with cash, freebies and even biryani in some cases! Till Wednesday, a day before the bypoll, and starting from November 24, a total of Rs 30,79,382 unaccounted cash was seized and 124 FIRs filed for election violations/offences.

BJP has fielded K Nagarajan for the RK Nagar bypoll.

#TamilNadu: BJP candidate Karu Nagarajan arrives at a polling booth in #Chennai to cast his vote in the #RKNagarByPoll pic.twitter.com/KsfiXEIw8d

— ANI (@ANI) December 21, 2017

People have been queuing up at the different polling booths in the RK Nagar constituency since morning amid heavy security arrangements. Ninety six flying squad teams, 21 Static Surveillance Teams and 20 Video Surveillance Teams have been deployed by election authorities. A total of 45 check points in and around the constituency are also manned by poll officials.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday declined to pass any order directing the Election Commission to put on hold the election in RK Nagar bypoll. Justice Indermeet Kaur also declined to direct a CBI probe into complaints and allegations of widespread corrupt practices in connection with the bypoll.

Chennai City Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan assures of elaborate security arrangements.

"We will ensure free and fair elections, today. Have deployed additional forces" says Chennai City Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan #RKNagarByPoll #TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/zJIAMfBsBJ

— ANI (@ANI) December 21, 2017

Chennai City Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan says, "We will ensure free and fair elections today. Additional forces have been deployed at the polling booths to ensure smooth polling."

The RK Nagar constituency has 2,28,234, voters comprising 1,10,903 men, 1,17,232 women and 99 transgenders. Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place with about 2,000 state police personnel, 15 companies of Central Armed Police Forces, including CRPF deployed across 256 polling stations. The election process for this high stakes bypoll process is being monitored by nine observers, considered the highest for a single assembly constituency. This includes general, special, police and expenditure officials. The RK Nagar bypoll, which is being seen as an acid test for the ruling AIADMK, is the first election since the death of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

Polling for the high voltage RK Nagar bypoll began at 8 am, with people arriving to exercise their franchise across booths in North Chennai, braving the misty weather conditions. DMK candidate N Marudhu Ganesh was among the early voters. Though as many as 59 candidates are in the fray, the bypoll is mainly being seen as a fight between the ruling AIADMK, its rival faction led by Dhinakaran and DMK.

Chennai City Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan says additional force has been deployed today in view of the RK Nagar bypoll. "We will ensure free and fair elections today,” he says. Elaborate security arrangements have been made with around 15 companies of paramilitary forces and over 2,500 security personnel and several closed circuit television cameras, flying squads and static surveillance teams being deployed. Although the poll was first scheduled to be held in April, it was cancelled due to complaints of large-scale voter bribing by a candidate.

BJP candidate Karu Nagarajan has arrived at a polling booth in Chennai to cast his vote in the RK Nagar bypoll. DMK candidate N Marudhu Ganesh also cast his vote at polling booth no. 134 in Chennai. “Whether it is Rs 6,000 or Rs 60,000, we are going to win. Voters of RK Nagar will teach a lesson to the AIADMK this time,” Ganesh says. Voter lines are slowly getting longer outside polling booths in Jayalalithaa’s erstwhile constituency.

The high stakes RK Nagar bypoll is being held to fill the vacancy caused by the death of sitting MLA Jayalalithaa on December 5 last year. She was admitted to Apollo Hospital in Chennai on September 22 last year after she complained of fever and dehydration. She died of cardiac arrest after 75 days in the hospital. There was no response from Apollo Hospital to a query on the veracity of the video, which showed Jayalalithaa sipping the drink with a straw from a use-and-throw glass topped with a lid. On her bedside was the portrait of a deity. Ruling AIADMK, which has sidelined the Sasikala family, said the video release amounted to bringing "disrepute" to the late Chief Minister's fame and image. DMK working president MK Stalin said the footage was released with an “ulterior motive”. In a Facebook post, he said the clip was released at a time when RK Nagar people were set to vote.

Suspicions have been raised over circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa's demise by several persons, including now deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam and his followers. The state government has appointed a retired Madras High Court judge as the one-man commission of inquiry to look into the circumstances leading to her death. The DMK, which raised the issue of doubts over Jayalalithaa's death during the RK Nagar bypoll campaign, and several others alleged that the video had been released with an eye on the by-election. Defending the release of the video, Vetrivel said he did it on his own "out of mental agony. Later Dinakaran called me and asked me why I did so," he told PTI.

The purported footage of Jayalalithaa, showing a frail looking AIADMK supremo in a nightdress and sipping what appeared to be a health drink with a straw, was released by Vetrivel, disqualified AIADMK MLA and election agent of TTV Dinakaran, who is contesting the RK Nagar bypoll as an Independent. A police complaint was lodged by Returning Officer of RK Nagar assembly constituency against Vetrivel, who said he released it in view of doubts raised over the circumstances leading to Jayalalithaa's hospitalisation and death. AIADMK hit out at Sasikala's family, saying the video release was a "conspiracy" and a "demeaning" act with an eye on RK Nagar bypoll, considered an acid test for the ruling dispensation, being the first poll after Jayalalithaa's demise.

Voters in Tamil Nadu’s RK Nagar constituency, the seat vacated by J Jayalalithaa’s death last year, will cast their ballots once again today to settle the dispute over the late chief minister’s political legacy within the AIADMK. The major contenders are the merged AIADMK faction’s E Madhusudhanan, sidelined party leader TTV Dinakaran who is contesting as an Independent, DMK's N Marudhu Ganesh and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) K Nagarajan. Although the bypoll was first scheduled to be held in April this year, it was cancelled due to complaints of large-scale voter bribing by a candidate. This round of voting is also not devoid of controversy. A Dinakaran loyalist released a video on the eve of the bypoll purportedly showing Jayalalithaa in a hospital few days before her death on December 5 last year. Amid questions raised about timing of the about 20-second video, election officials asked channels to stop its telecast, saying it was a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.