A voter turnout of 44.58 per cent was recorded in Erode East Assembly bypoll in Tamil Nadu till 1 pm, informed Election Commission.
The polling for the tightly-contested Erode East bypoll began at 7 am.
Significantly, a total of 77 candidates across political affiliations are vying for the prized Assembly constituency.
However, the bypoll is being essentially seen as a tight race between Congress candidate EVKS Elangovan and AIADMK's Thennarasu.
Elangovan is contesting the bypoll with the support of the DMK, which is also Congress' bigger partner in the ruling alliance.
After the recent Supreme Court ruling, which allowed him to remain at the helm of the AIADMK, former Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi Palaniswami has a chance to emerge as a tall leader and reaffirm his hold on the party if the outcome of the Erode bypoll goes his way.
However, the AIADMK faces a stiff contest from the ruling DMK in the battle for the prized seat, with the Naam Tamizlar Katchi (NTK), the Desiya Morpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and several other players also in the fray.
A total of 1206 officers, 286 presiding officers, 858 polling officers and 62 additional officers, have been stationed for poll duty.
As many as 238 polling centres have been set up across 52 places.
The bypoll was necessitated after the sudden demise of Congress MLA Thirumahan Eveera.
( With inputs from ANI )
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