Voting is being held today in the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu. Polling will take place from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm.
The by-elections were necessitated after Maragatham Kumaravel and Sathyabama, who had won on the AIADMK ticket, resigned as MLAs and later joined the TVK. Election authorities have set up 285 polling booths for about 2.13 lakh voters in Madurantakam and 320 booths for about 2.23 lakh voters in Dharapuram.
The campaign drew heightened attention as several senior leaders took to the field, including TVK leader Vijay, DMK leader Stalin, Opposition leader Udhayanidhi, AIADMK general secretary Palaniswami and NTK coordinator Seeman. With the focus concentrated on just two seats, the constituencies witnessed sustained political activity for over 10 days.
Parties deployed ministers, former ministers and key functionaries across wards, towns, unions and booths, assigning area-wise responsibilities and voter outreach plans. After campaigning ended the previous evening, the constituencies fell quiet on Monday, even as expectations rose over the verdict to be delivered through today’s vote.
Political observers said bypolls are not only about victory or defeat but also a measure of organisational strength, booth-level work and the current mood of voters. They noted that the vote shares recorded across local units would be closely studied by parties as an indicator of their real standing.
