Chennai/Puducherry, May 13 (IANS) Thirty-six percent voters exercised their franchise in 39 Tamil Nadu constituencies until 1 p.m. Wednesday while in neighbouring union territory of Puducherry the turnout crossed the half way mark by 2 p.m.
Most of the Tamil Nadu voting stations opened at 7.a.m. However, poll officials said voting was delayed in some polling stations across the state owing to malfunctioning electronic voting machines (EVMs).
By 1 p.m., 36 percent voter turnout was recorded in Tamil Nadu and in Puducherry it was 51.06 percent till 2 p.m., the officials said.
In all, 41.6 million people are eligible to decide the fate of 823 candidates, including 41 women, in Tamil Nadu.
Prominent candidates include Home Minister P. Chidambaram, union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and E.V.K.S. Elangovan of the Congress; Dayanidhi Maran, M.K. Azhagiri and T.R. Baalu of the DMK; and MDMK's Vaiko.
There are 52,175 polling stations in the state. Of them, 4,043 have been declared hyper sensitive and 16,938 as sensitive. The state logged 60.76 polling in the 2004 general elections.
In Puducherry, about 760,000 voters (men 366,788, women 395,240) are eligible to cast their votes in 852 polling stations.
The two main contestants are the sitting MP M. Ramadass of the PMK and V. Narayanasamy of the Congress.
The constituency comprises of Puducherry, Mahe, Yanam and Karaikal.
In the 2004 general elections Puducherry recorded nearly 76 percent polling.
The polling is smooth in the union territory, joint chief electoral officer P.T. Rudra Goud told IANS.
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