Polling in the by-election to Tamil Nadu's Radhakrishnan Nagar assembly constituency began at 8 am on June 17, 2015.
The by-election in Tamil Nadu's Radhakrishnan (RK) Nagar consituency has seen a voter turnout of 63.5 per cent till 4 pm, with people still queueing outside polling stations. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is making a bid to be re-elected to the Assembly, after once again taking charge of the state on May 23.
None of the major opposition parties have fielded candidates against Ms Jayalalithaa, who had been disqualified as a member of the Assembly after a Bengaluru court convicted her in a disproportionate assets case in September last year. The trial court verdict had been overturned by the Karnataka High Court on May 11, after which Ms Jayalailthaa took oath for the fifth time.
Of the 28 candidates in the fray, only C Mahendran of the CPI belongs to a prominent party.
The by-election had been announced after the incumbent, AIADMK's P Vetrivel, resigned, presumably to make way for 67-year-old Jayalalithaa to get re-elected, to fulfill a Constitutional requirement to be voted to the Asse4mbly within six months of taking oath.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister had deployed all her 28 minister for campaigning for the by-poll; Ms Jayalalithaa, however, had campaigned just for one day.
RK Nagar, a constituency in the northern part of the city, has around 2.5 lakh elgible voters.
The nearly two-decades-old case against the AIADMK chief for allegedly amassing wealth during her first term as Chief Minister in the early 1990s was transferred from Tamil Nadu to neighbouring Karnataka in 2003 to ensure the trial would not be impacted by the influence of either Ms Jayalalithaa or her political opponents.
The Karnataka government has challenged Ms Jayalalithaa's acquittal in the Supreme Court, describing it as a "farce."
Apart from Tamil Nadu, four other states are going in for by-polls today. Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura will be casting the ballot for six seats.
The ballot papers will carry a picture of the candidate along with the party symbol, as per the Election Commission order.