Stalin Hard Pressed To Beat AIADMK Candidate,Leds By 2,423 Votes

Chennai, May 13 : Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin, was fighting hard to emerge victorious from Kolathur assembly constituency in the city with AIADMK nominee Saidai Duraisamy making it a tough contest.

Till late tonight, the result from this new assembly seat could not be declared, though reports suggested that Mr Stalin was leading by 2,423 votes.

As the counting of votes was drawing to a close, there was a clash between DMK and AIADMK agents, after which, the officials suspended counting of votes.

Soon senior officials visited the counting centre and after they restored normalcy, the counting was resumed.

But till late tonight, the results could not be declared as the officials decided to verify the votes entered in form 20 with votes polled in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

This was necessitated as it was noted that polling officials had failed to press the closing button in a couple of EVMs, giving rise to speculations that additional votes might have been cast.

However, verifiction revealed that no additional votes were cast and the officials were tallying the votes cast in the EVMs with votes entered in form 20s.

Official sources said if the votes did not tally, the matter would be referred to the Election Commission for further action.

Posted in: Breaking News