CHENNAI: Campaigning for the high-stakes RK Nagar bypoll scheduled on Thursday came to end on Tuesday throwing normalcy out of north Chennai. The last day saw a hyperactive campaign by the rebel AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran and the ruling party candidate E. Madhusudhanan, who crisscrossed RK Nagar in a two-wheeler. DMK's Marudhu Ganesh who started early in the day covered the maximum area and was flanked by the DMK leader M.K. Stalin.
The high voltage campaign and the arrival of cadres from AIADMK and DMK chocked the congested parts of Washermenpet, Tondiarpet, Korukhupet and Kasimedu. As a ripple effect traffic was also affected in nearby Royapuram, Harbour and Thiruvottiyur constituencies till Tuesday night.
RK Nagar, earlier represented by the late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, saw the maximum fanfare by political parties on the last day of the campaign and poll observers too faced traffic woes till late evening. With 59 candidates in the fray, the by-poll is virtually confined between AIADMK veteran Madhusudhanan, DMK's greenhorn Maruthu Ganesh and popular rebel candidate Dhinakaran challenging the state and the Centre. Independent candidates were also visible on the last day actively involved in a door-to-door campaign. Many opposition parties, including the Congress, VCK and the Left were also seen active campaigning for the DMK candidate.
Meanwhile, district election officer D. Karthikeyan warned that campaign through social media or any other form will attract action as per the Representation of People's Act. Polling will be held on December 21 and the counting is scheduled on December 24.
Chennai district collector V. Anbuselvan also passed orders closing liquor shops in the constituency during the time of polling and counting of votes.
