Judgement day: Polling begins in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry

Chennai/Thiruvananthapuram/Puducherry Voting was brisk from Wednesday morning in the only phase that will decide the fates of political heavyweights in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
In Tamil Nadu, the fortunes of the Karunanidhi family is at stake – made wobbly first by the self goal of former Telecom Minister A Raja – and then by the increasingly confident opposition in the form of AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa.

Polling for all 234 Assembly constituencies are on with about 4.6 crore voters expected to decide the fate of 2,773 candidates.

Political heavyweights whose fortunes will be decided include Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi, his arch rival and AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa, Karunanidhi's son and Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin and DMDK actor-founder Vijayakanth.

In Kerala's 140 Assembly segments, the main fight is between the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF.

As per reports from across the state, the voters' turn-up was brisk. A total of 971 candidates are in fray -- many of them Independents.

Over 1.25 lakh security personnel have been deployed for peaceful voting in 20,578 polling stations in Kerala.

Besides the state police, contingents from other states and central paramilitary forces have been deployed for the elections.

Around 2.31 crore people, including 8,862 NRIs, will exercise their franchise on Wednesday.

The campaigning for elections had remained by and large peaceful but for sporadic clashes on the concluding day.

High profile contestants in the fray include Chief Minister and CPI(M) veteran V S Achuthanandan (Malampuzha), UDF's chief ministerial contender and Congress leader Oommen Chandy (Puthupally), KPCC chief Ramesh Chennithala (Harippad), state Home Minister and CPI(M) Politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan (Thalsssery) and senior BJP leader O Rajagopal (Nemom).

The state recorded 72.38 per cent polling in the 2006 Assembly polls.

In Tamil Nadu too, people came out in large numbers early in the morning and queued up before booths as polling began under the watchful eyes of security personnel who have been deployed in good strength.

In the Union territory of Puducherry also, the polling to elect 30 members to the Assembly began in a brisk note and large queues were seen before booths.