Early trends in the counting of votes at Chennia’s RK Nagar show Sasikala’s nephew T.T.V Dhinakaran leading the race, followed by AIADMK’s E. Madhusudhanan.
After the end of counting round 5, Dhinakaran is leading with with 24132 votes while Madhusudhanan got 13057 votes. DMK's N. Marudhu Ganesh has got 6606 votes, reported ANI. Dhinakaran is contesting as an independent for the first time.
Chennai: Supporters of TTV Dhinakaran celebrate outside his residence as official trends indicate his lead #RKNagarByPoll pic.twitter.com/0o291trIQI
— ANI (@ANI) December 24, 2017
Counting is still underway and the final result is expected by this afternoon.
Voting for the high stakes bypoll in RK Nagar Assembly constituency, which fell vacant after the death of late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, was held on Thursday.
Chennai: Supporters of TTV Dhinakaran celebrate, burst crackers outside his residence as official trends indicate his lead #RKNagarByPoll pic.twitter.com/qNGVnNj0Wd
Advertisement opens in new window— ANI (@ANI) December 24, 2017
It is seen as an acid test for the ruling AIADMK, as it is the first election since the death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
Though as many as 59 candidates are in the fray, the bypoll is mainly seen as a fight between the ruling AIADMK, its rival faction led by Dhinakaran and DMK.
R K Nagar has an electorate of 2,28,234, comprising 1,10,903 men, 1,17,232 women and 99 transgenders.
The run up to the poll saw political parties and candidates holding as many as 152 public meetings and taking out 605 processions, campaigning ended on December 19.
(With agency inputs)