RK Nagar Assembly constituency from where Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa is seeking by-election saw a record 74.4 per cent polling on Saturday. The voting was by and large peaceful all over the constituency.
Though the by-election from RK Nagar was boycotted by all other major parties including the DMK, BJP, Congress, DMDK, PMK and MDMK, it did not dampen the spirit of the voters who turned out in large numbers from the moment polling commenced at 8 am. The 2011 Assembly election saw 71 per cent polling here. The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of P Vetrivel of the AIADMK to help Jayalalithaa to meet the constitutional obligation of getting elected to the House within six months of her being sworn in as CM. Besides her, there were 27 candidates in the fray. But barring C Mahendran of the CPI, the rest did not campaign at all other than issuing statements against the high-decibel campaign of the AIADMK.