Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu,Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry on Wednesday recorded a very high turnout of voters with an average of about 78 per cent. While Tamil Nadu and Kerala registered a turnout of 75.21 per cent and 74.4 per cent respectively,in Puducherry it was the highest at 85.21 per cent,Deputy Election Commissioner J P Prakash told reporters in Delhi. Prakash said polling was by and large peaceful and the percentage was likely to go up. However,in Salem in Tamil Nadu,a 58-year-old AIADMK sympathiser died in a stampede after the police baton charged to disperse those gathered around a polling booth. Later,AIADMK sympathisers blocked the Sivathapuram main road. They also damaged police vehicles by pelting stones. Election officials kept a strong vigil amid allegations about distribution of money to voters in a last ditch effort to lure them,especially in Tamil Nadu. Prakash said Rs 54.17 crore in cash was recovered during the drive against the use of money power during electioneering in Tamil Nadu. Live web casting of the election was carried out in all three cases. For the first time,8,835 overseas Indians voted in Kerala,which had seen 74.4 per cent polling in the 2006 polls. The electoral fortunes of three top guns of the south - Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi (86),his Kerala counterpart V S Achuthanandan (87) and AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa (63) among others will be known on May 13. Moving away from his constituency in the city,Karunanidhi sought election from the rural Tiruvarur segment in his home district for the first time,while his arch-rival Jayalalithaa opted for the temple town of Srirangam where her family is well-entrenched. Other political heavyweights among the 2,773 candidates are Karunanidhi's son and Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin (Kolathur on Chennai outskirts) and actor-politician Vijayakant of DMDK (Rishivandyam). In Kerala,Kannur district,known for clashes between rival party cadres,topped in voter turn out recording 80.4 per cent while the lowest was reported from Pathanamthitta (68.2) closely followed by the capital Thiruvananthapuram (68.5). In Palakkad district,where Achuthanandan is seeking re-election for the third time in Malampuzha segment,the turnout was 75.3 per cent. The battle to gain power in the highly polarised state,where the pendulum swings between CPI-M led LDF and UDF headed by the Congress every five years,was keenly fought between the two fronts. In all,971 candidates,including Independents,are in the fray. UDF's chief ministerial probable Oommen Chandy is seeking to enter the Assembly for the tenth time in a row from Puthuppally in Kottayam. The BJP is pinning its hopes on senior leader O Rajagopal,contesting in Nemom to open its account in the Assembly. In Puducherry,the polling percentage was around 83.62 as against 84 per cent recorded in the 2006 Assembly polls. The Congress-led combine,including DMK and PMK,is facing a tough challenge in the Union Territory from a front led by former chief minister N Rangasamy's All India NR Congress that has AIADMK in its fold. The states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu,and the Union Territory of Puducherry witnessed a high voting turnout on Wednesday to decide the fate of many bigwigs in the South including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi,AIADMK Chief J Jayalalithaa and Kerala Chief Minister V C Achuthanandan.
