AIADMK will form government in Tamil Nadu, says Panneerselvam

All NDA candidates will win and AIADMK will form the government in the state said Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, O Panneerselvam after casting cast his vote on Tuesday in Periyakulam.

"All NDA candidates will win. AIADMK is going to form the government for the third consecutive time in the state," said Panneerselvam while speaking to media persons.

Panneerselvam has been representing the Bodinayakkanur constituency since 2011 and is attempting a hat-trick from here in the April 6 assembly elections.

Panneerselvam, considered as the most loyal minister of late Jayalalithaa was chosen to follow in Amma's footsteps.

When Jayalalithaa was jailed in 2014, Panneerselvam was anointed chief minister as a stop-gap arrangement. In the 2016 Tamil Nadu Assembly election, AIADMK candidate Paneerselvam retained Bodinayakkanur by a margin of 15, 428 votes. He had also won the seat in the 2011 polls.

Polling across 234 Assembly constituencies in 38 districts of Tamil Nadu started at 7 am. A total of 3,998 candidates are in the poll fray.

In order to combat the COVID-19 spread, the number of polling stations has been increased to 88,937.

Tamil Nadu is witnessing a fierce battle between arch-rivals All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and DMK. MK Stalin-led DMK, which has been out of power since 2011 in the state, is in a head-to-head battle with the ruling AIADMK in nearly 130 constituencies.

AIADMK is contesting the poll in a pre-poll alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Paattali Makkal Katchi (PMK). PMK and BJP are contesting in 23 and 20 constituencies respectively in the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly while the AIADMK has fielded its candidates for the rest of the seats.

While the DMK has allotted 25 seats to its Congress party, and six each for CPI, CPI (M), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and Vaiko's Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK).

( With inputs from ANI )