Chennai, April 23 Several stars from the Tamil film industry including actors Vikram, Dhanush, Ajith and music director Anirudh Ravichander were among those who turned up early on Thursday morning to cast their votes in the intensely contested elections to the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Vikram cast his vote at The Besant Theosopical Higher Secondary School, while Gautham Karthik, the son of actor and politician Karthik, cast his vote in Stella Maris College.
Ajith, who returned in a hurry to Chennai from Belgium where he was racing along with his car racing team Ajith Kumar Racing, was among the first to turn up to cast his vote in Thiruvanmiyur.
Popular music director Anirudh Ravichander and pan Indian actor Dhanush cast their votes at the St Francis Xavier Middle School in Alwarpet at around 9 am.
Several other stars and film celebrities are making their way along with scores of people across the state to select their representatives from a total of 4,023 candidates.
The nomination process, which commenced on March 30, witnessed a robust response, with as many as 7,599 nomination papers filed over a four-day period. However, the scrutiny phase led to the rejection of around 2,460 nominations due to invalid or incomplete documentation, significantly narrowing down the field.
Among the constituencies, Karur has emerged as the most crowded battleground with 79 candidates, reflecting intense political competition. It is followed by Perambur with 47 candidates, Kolathur with 35, and Paramathi-Velur with 31 candidates.
On the other end of the spectrum, Ambasamudram has the least number of contestants at just five, while Udhagamandalam, Gudalur, and Coonoor have six candidates each, indicating relatively less crowded contests in these hill and southern constituencies.
Polling for the 234-member Assembly is scheduled to be held on April 23, with the counting of votes set for May 4.
--IANS
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