RK Nagar bypoll: Dhinakaran leads in early trend

Sidelined DMK">AIADMK leader and independent candidate T T V Dhinakaran has taken the lead in the first round of counting of votes in the RK Nagar bypoll.

As per the Election Commission trends, Dhinakaran is leading with 5,339 votes followed by DMK">AIADMK candidate E Madhusudhanan (2,738), and DMK's N Maruthu Ganesh (1,181) in the third.

Dhinakaran, who lost the DMK">AIADMK symbol to the EPS-OPS faction, chose to contest the election as an independent candidate and was allotted a 'pressure cooker' symbol for the same.

Key candidates in the fray are E Madhusudhanan from DMK">AIADMK, sidelined DMK">AIADMK leader T T V Dhinakaran, who is contesting as an independent, N Maruthu Ganesh from DMK, and Karu Nagarajan from BJP.

The RK Nagar constituency went to polls on December 21, necessitated by the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa in December last year.

The election is speculated to be a litmus test for the leadership of E Panneerselvam and K Palaniswami who took over the reins of DMK">AIADMK after her.

The election was earlier scheduled on April 12 but was cancelled following vote-for-cash scam.

-ANI