TN Assembly Election Polling was held on 13 April, 2011.

Tamil Nadu Election Counting of Votes :- 13.5.2011 (Friday)

An average of nearly 78 per cent voters exercised their franchise to elect new assemblies in the key southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the Union territory of Puducherry today.

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 police baton charge 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 money distribution to voters in a last ditch effort to lure voters, especially in Tamil Nadu.

Prakash said Rs. 54.17 crore in cash was recovered during the drive against use of money power during electioneering in Tamil Nadu.

Live web casting was carried out in all the three elections. 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 A[no swearing please]hanandan (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 rural Tiruvarur segment in his home district for the first time while his arch-rival Jayalalithaa opted for temple town of Srirangam where her family has roots.

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 turnout recording 80.4 per cent while the lowest was reported from Pathanamthitta (68.2) closely followed by capital Thiruvananthapuram (68.5).