Campaign ends in Pudukkottai

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The campaign drew to a close Sunday evening and the Pudukkottai constituency now faces a bypoll on Tuesday, which will be a face-to-face contest between AIADMK and DMDK.

There was intensive campaigning on the last day AIADMK cadres and ministers who were visibly pumped up after the whirlwind electioneering trip of Ms Jayalalithaa on Saturday.

DMDK concluded its campaign with party chief Vijayakanth participating in a public meeting organised in Pudukkottai.

“The constituency is now free of political personalities who are not voters of the constituency.

All political functionaries, including ministers and party workers, had been asked to leave the constituency after 5 pm, and we have also sternly instructed the district officials to ensure that all party cadres and leaders left the constituency,” state CEO Praveen Kumar told Deccan Chronicle on Sunday.

Mr Kumar added that distribution of voters slip was completed with the pending 5 percent slips being distributed on Sunday. On the seizure of unaccounted cash during the bypoll process, Mr Kumar said the officials had seized as much as Rs 70 lakhs till Sunday, including Rs 3 lakh in kind.

The campaigners of the rival parties did not waste a minute on the last day, taking their appeal to the voters till the deadline of 5 pm arrived. Mr Vijayakanth spoke at a public meeting organised in the town, in which CPI (M) legislator Balabarathi also participated.

With DMK, MDMK and left parties opting out of the contest, AIADMK’s Karthik Thondaiman and DMDK’s Jahir Hussain are the candidates of recognised political parties left in the fray, making it a direct contest between ruling AIADMK and DMDK, which secured fourth place in the previous bypoll in Sankarankoil. The counting of votes from the 224 booths will be held on June 15.