Tamil Nadu: Polling Begins In Erode East; Counting On 2 March
Polling for the Erode East byelection began here on Monday (27 February), with District Collector H Krishna Unni being among the early voters.
Voting began at 7 am.
While 77 candidates are in the fray, the main battle is between Congress candidate EVKS Elangovan of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led alliance and KS Thennarasu, who is the candidate of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(AIADMK). The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is supporting the AIADMK.
The outcome of the election, the first since the DMK came to power in 2021, will have no major bearing on the existing strength of the respective parties but is being seen as a test of the DMK's governance over the last 22 months.
The election was necessitated due to the death of Elangovan's son and Congress legislator Thirumahan Everaa.
The constituency has a little over 2.27 lakh voters and 238 polling stations. Over 3000 personnel from the central and state forces have been deployed for ensuring security during the election process.
Counting of votes would be done on 2 March, along with that of states like Nagaland and Meghalaya.
(With inputs from PTI)