About 30.62 per cent of the total 5.84 crore electorate have exercised their franchise till 1100 hrs as the single-phase polling for 38 Lok Sabha constituencies and a by-election to 18 Assembly seats began in Tamil Nadu at 7 am on Thursday.
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Satyabrata Sahoo told reporters here that 30.62 per cent of polling has been recorded till 11 am.
Asked about the delay in polling process due to technical glitches in several polling booths, he said the problems were being attended to immediately.
More than 300 EVMs have been changed to replace the faulty ones. ''Polling is going on peacefully'', he added. About voters not having booth slips to cast their vote, Sahoo said, ''Even if they did not have booth slips, they could vote by showing any one of the identity documents specified by the EC if their name is in the voters' list''.
Though there were 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State, elections are being held only for 38 seats after the Election Commission (EC) rescinded the polling for the Vellore seat following the seizure of a large amount of cash.
Simultaneous polling also commenced for the 18 of 22 vacant Assembly seats in the state, that would decide the fortunes of the ruling AIADMK, whose stability hinges on the outcome of the polls.
The bypoll for the remaining four seats would be held on May 19. Moderate to brisk polling was reported across the state, as people queued up in large numbers to exercise their democratic right.
