An estimated 70 to 75 per cent of the 1.5 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the by-election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly from Madurai West constituency on Tuesday.
The state’s Chief Electoral Officer, Mr Naresh Gupta, who camped in Madurai to oversee the election, told reporters that polling was by and large peaceful barring minor incidents.
 The by-election was caused by the death of rebel AIADMK legislator S V Shanmugham who moved closer to the DMK in his last days and was declared persona non grata by party chief J Jayalalitha.
With the Election Commission holding out a threat until the last minute to put off the polls if the law and order situation did not improve and not taking kindly to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s thinly veiled threat to go on a fast if any such step was taken, heavy security was in place. The state police was confined to security of the outer periphery while polling booths were guarded by central para-military forces.
Until the EC cracked the whip, there were sporadic incidents of violence and allegations that voters were paid Rs 1,500 a head by the DMK, a charge dismissed as routine by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.
Mr Karunanidhi as well as Ms Jayalalitha, departing from past practice, joined the campaign towards the close, thus making it a prestige fight between the AIADMK’s Sellur Raju and DMK-backed Congress rival K S K Rajendran, who is close to Mr Karunanidhi’s Madurai-based son M K Azhagiri.
Besides the two parties, the fledgling Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam of actor Vijayakanth and the BJP have also entered the field, as also scores of independents. All the mainline parties have chosen candidates from the Thevar community which is dominant in the constituency.
Coming close on the heels of the attack on the Madurai office of Dinakaran daily and Sun TV by supporters of Mr Azhagiri, in which three employees were killed, Ms Jayalalitha focused her campaign on Mr Azhagiri, whom she described as an extra-constitutional authority, and the general deteriorating law and order situation.
Mr Karunanidhi’s son and party Deputy General Secretary M K Stalin who spearheaded the campaign, made the election a referendum on the one-year of DMK rule and highlighted the various welfare measures implemented by the government. The counting will be taken up on June 29 and the results will be out the same day.