The stage is all set for the D-Day in Tamil Nadu. On Thursday, around 55.1-million eligible voters will decide the fate of 845 candidates, who are contesting for 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu. Among the 12 states that go to poll on Thursday, Tamil Nadu has got the highest number of constituencies.
Traditionally, the state witnessed poll battle where the national parties - Congress and BJP - faced the election allying with one of the two main parties - AIADMK and DMK.
However, this time, the Congress was left alone in the state and the BJP joined hands with other regional parties. In all respects, the contest is still reserved between the AIADMK and the DMK.
The good news for BJP is that it has managed to make inroads in the state riding on the Modi wave.
BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi visited the state four times and had travelled extensively. The other national leaders from the party who campaigned in the state include LK Advani, Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi choose to campaign in two constituencies - Kanyakumari and Ramanathapuram. Communist parties, which will face the election alone, saw some of the top guns including Prakash Karat in the state.
Perhaps this is the first election, which saw an extensive use of airspace for reaching the campaigning venues. AIADMK supermo J Jayalalithaa took the aerial route to reach each and every constituency in the state.
According to reports, DMK leader MK Stalin travelled 8,109-km across the state and took part in 38 public meetings, followed by NDA partner and DMDK founder, Vijaykanth, who travelled for 5,496-km covering 89 places.
The flying squad of Election Commission has seized unaccounted cash and materials worth around Rs 50-crore during the raids at several parts of the state since the poll dates were announced and the model code of conduct had came into force.
Tamil Nadu ranks next to Andhra Pradesh in total seizures and worth of cash and materials seized, says reports. So far 2,835 cases have been registered for the violation of model code of conduct.
