00:00All eyes are on the Tamil Nadu twin bi-poll results.
00:04The results of the by-elections in Madhurantakam and Dharapuram will be declared today.
00:10Counting of votes will begin at 8am at designated counting centres.
00:15Counting has begun in fact.
00:17Postal ballots being counted first, followed by votes recorded through EVNs.
00:23For TVK, the contest is the party's first major electoral test after coming to power,
00:29putting its organisational strength and voter appeal under the spotlight.
00:34For the DMK, the battle presents an opportunity for M.K. Stalin to stage a comeback and reclaim lost ground.
00:42Meanwhile, the AIA DMK faces a crucial test of its electoral strength under Edapadi Palanisame.
00:49The turnout figures also point to a notable decline compared with the previous Assembly elections.
00:57Madhurantakam recorded 86.26% voter turnout in the bi-polls, nearly 7% lower than the 93.22%
01:06recorded in the Assembly elections.
01:09Dharapuram recorded 80.30% compared to 89.89% in the Assembly elections.
01:16Let's go across to Anagha Keshav, who's bringing us what is happening on the ground at the bi-poll counting
01:24centres.
01:25Anagha, what's happening? What can you tell us about the counting so far?
01:29And what does this really mean for Tamil Nadu politics?
01:38Well, in fact, what I'm picking up is that in both constituencies, Madhurantakam and Darapuram, it's the TVK that's leading.
01:44I do have the numbers for Madhurantakam constituency.
01:50For TVK, it's about 3571, 3,500 votes, and DMK is 2,600 votes.
01:56So, TVK has an edge right now. There is a slight edge that TVK has, and therefore, in both constituencies,
02:03I'm yet to pick up the numbers for Dharapuram,
02:05but for Madhurantakam, what I'm picking up is that these are the numbers, which is the slight difference between TVK
02:11and the DMK,
02:12and that leaves AIA-DMK to the third spot.
02:15Quite an interesting election indeed to really figure out how much of Vijay's governance has largely been accepted in Tamil
02:21Nadu.
02:22Very crucial one. In fact, even for the DMK, this is said to be sort of a moral victory sort
02:27of a thing.
02:28They do want to win both constituencies.
02:30Thank you very much, Anagha Keshav, for bringing us that perspective of what is happening as the election results are
02:37being counted at the moment.
