Polling in Tamil Nadu amid tight security

Chennai, June 27: Polling for Tamil Nadu's Radhakrishnan Nagar assembly constituency with Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa as one of the contestants began here at 8 a.m. on Saturday amid tight security arrangements, an official said. Around 250,000 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise where the AIADMK general secretary's main rival is C. Mahendran of the Communist Party of India (CPI). There are also 26 other independents and candidates from small parties in the fray including social activist K.R. Ramaswamy, popularly known as "Traffic Ramaswamy". The polling will close at 5 p.m. Schools and colleges in the constituency will be closed on Saturday due to the poll. Opposition parties such as the DMK, the PMK, the DMDK, the Congress, the BJP and the MDMK have decided to stay away from Saturday's contest. However, the two Left parties -- CPI and CPI-M -- have fielded Mahendran as their joint candidate. The votes will be counted on June 30.