Madurai by-poll: 62% polling till evening

Madurai, Oct 11 (UNI) With a hour to go for the polling to close, an estimated 62 per cent of the voters cast their ballots by 1600 hrs this evening in the bye-election to the Madurai Central Assembly Constituency.

Official sources said the polling process had been incident free so far.

Polling commenced on a brisk note at 0700 hrs this morning with long queues seen outside the booths.

The by-election to the constituency was necessary due to the death of DMK stalwart P T R Palanivelrajan on May 20. He was also the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister.

The party had fielded S S Ghouse Basha while the AIADMK had nominated V V Rajan Chellappa.

The DMDK led by filmstar-turned-politician Vijayakanth had put up Mr M R Pannerselvam, a greenhorn. In all, there are 19 candidates in the fray.

UNI CR GM VD DS1620