Erode, FebruARY 5: Voting for by-poll to the Erode East Assembly constituency commenced at 7 am on Wednesday, amid heavy police protection. Polling will be held in 237 booths across 53 locations. Owing to cold conditions, people did not turn up in big numbers at the start of the polling but more voters are expected later in the day, officials said. Erode East By-Election 2025: DMK, NTK Engage in ‘Silent Door-to-Door Campaigning’.

A total of 46 candidates--including 44 independents, are in the fray, although the battle is confined between the ruling DMK and actor-politician Seeman's Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK). The DMK has fielded former MLA V C Chandrakumar while M K Seethalakshmi is the NTK's pick. Main Opposition AIADMK and the BJP have announced boycotting the by-poll, necessitated due to the death of Congress MLA EVKS Elangovan last year. Erode East By-Election 2025: NDA To Boycott February 5 Tamil Nadu Bypoll.

Erode East segment has a total of 2,27,546 voters. Nine booths have been declared as sensitive and additional security posted there, officials said. District Collector Raja Gopal Sunkara was among the early voters.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)