Counting of votes on the Vellore Lok Sabha seat of Tamil Nadu began on Friday.
Of the 28 candidates who contested the polls held on August 5, the main contest is between A.C. Shanmugam of the AIADMK and D.M. Kathir Anand of the DMK.
The election to the Vellore Lok Sabha constituency, which was countermanded due to excess use of money power, was held on August 5. Polling for the Lok Sabha seat was originally cheduled for April 18, along with the other constituencies of Tamil Nadu, but was cancelled on April 16 following the recovery of a huge amount of cash allegedly from an associate of a DMK leader.
The result are expected to be out by afternoon and will decide if the AIADMK retains the seat or arch rival DMK wrests it.
Here are the latest updates:
Lead candidates' votes cross 2 lakh
Leads:
Total votes polled: 4,48,820
A.C. Shanmugam (AIADMK): 2,16,037
Kathir Anand (DMK): 2,07,167
S. Deepalakshmi (NTK): 10,895
(margin: 8,870)
Latest trends:
Total votes: 4,11,495
A.C. Shanmugam (AIADMK): 198,147
Kathir Anand (DMK): 1,89,851
S. Deepalakshmi (NTK): 10,046
(margin: 8,296)
AIADMK's A.C. Shanmugam maintains lead over DMK
Total votes: 3,66,193
A.C. Shanmugham (AIADMK): 178,138
Kathir Anand (DMK): 1,66,918
S. Deepalakshmi (NTK): 8,969
(margin - 11,220)
AIADMK leads by over 14,000 votes
Total votes: 3,01,654
A.C. Shanmugam (AIADMK): 1,49,168
Kathir Anand (DMK): 1,34,693
S. Deepalakshmi (NTK): 7,533
(margin - 14,475)
AIADMK leads by 11,890 votes over DMK
Total votes: 2,11,147
A.C. Shanmugam (AIADMK): 1,05,301
Kathir Anand (DMK): 93,411
S. Deepalakshmi (NTK): 5,041
(margin - 11,890)
21 rounds
According to poll officials, there would be a total of 21 rounds for counting.
Up to 18 rounds different assembly constituencies will be covered and for the remaining 3 round a single constituency would be covered where the number of votes polled was relatively high, he said.
Total votes: 1,72,661
A.C. Shanmugam (AIADMK): 85,200
Kathir Anand (DMK): 77,467
S. Deepalakshmi (NTK): 3,950
(Margin: 7,773)
AIADMK's A.C Shanmugam leads by over 7,000 votes
Total votes 108648
A.C. Shanmugam (AIADMK): 54744
Kathir Anand (DMK): 47670
S. Deepalakshmi (NTK): 2502
(margin - 7,074)
AIADMK candidate leads by slender margin
AIADMK candidate A.C. Shanmugam is leading over his nearly DMK rival Kathir Anand by 913 votes at the end of the first round of counting.
Round 1
Total votes 51646
AIADMK: 25719
DMK: 24806
NTK: 1269
(difference 913 votes)
Counting of votes in 6 assembly segments begins.
Over 3,000 postal votes
Strong room where postal votes are stored opened. Postal votes are being counted in a separate hall. According to DEO A. Shanmuga Sundram there are 3,039 postal votes.
Election officials being given briefed on the procedures to be followed during the counting of votes for the Vellore Lok Sabha election at Ranipet Institute of Technology, in Vellore. | Photo Credit: V.M. MANINATHAN
High security at counting centres
Three-tier security arrangements have been put in place at the counting centre in Walajahpet where the EVMs and other election-related equipment used for Vellore Parliamentary elections are stored.
(With inputs from our Correspondent T. Madhavan)