Chennai/Thiruvananthapuram: The assembly by-election in Tamil Nadu, a must win for AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa to remain as state chief minister, ended on Saturday evening with tens of thousands voting.

Polling in the Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency where Jayalalithaa is pitted against CPI’s C. Mahendran ended at 5pm with some 74.4 per cent of the around 250,000 electorate exercising their franchise.

According to an Election Commission statement issued here after polling, the 74.4 per cent was a tentative figure and the final figure would be known only on the receipt of documents from all the 230 polling stations.

The polling percentage was higher this time compared to the 2011 assembly elections when the turnout was 72.72 per cent.

While there were 28 candidates in the fray this time, only Mahendran of the Communist Party of India is being viewed as a serious opponent. Jayalalithaa is widely expected to win.

There are 26 other independents and candidates from smaller parties including social activist K.R. Ramaswamy, popularly known as “Traffic Ramaswamy”.

Polling was brisk and peaceful throughout the day since it started at 8am.

Votes will be counted on June 30.

Opposition parties like the DMK, the PMK, the DMDK, the Congress, the BJP and the MDMK stayed away from the contest.

The Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency fell vacant after AIADMK’s P. Vetrival resigned from the house to facilitate Jayalalithaa’s re-election to the assembly.

Jayalalithaa, elected from Srirangam in 2011, lost that seat and the chief minister’s post after a trial court in Bengaluru convicted her in the disproportionate assets case.

The Karnataka High Court upheld her appeal and acquitted her of all charges. Jayalalithaa was again sworn in as chief minister, but she has to get elected to the assembly within six months.

Meanwhile, despite heavy rains, some 76 per cent of the 184,210 electorate voted on Saturday in the Kerala assembly by-election in Aruvikara here which saw a triangular contest involving the CPI-M, the Congress and the BJP.

Election officials reported a turnout of 76.31 per cent by the time polling ended at 5pm.

The election followed the death of Kerala assembly Speaker G. Karthikeyan in March. He had represented the constituency for 24 long years.

There were a total of 16 candidates in the fray and 184,210 voters — up from 164,884 in 2011 when Karthikeyan won by over 10,000 votes and which saw a 70 per cent turnout.

The ruling Congress fielded Karthikeyan’s 31-year-old son K.A. Sabarinathan while the Communist Party of India-Marxist nominated 67-year-old former speaker and minister M. Vijayakumar.

The Bharatiya Janata Party put up its regular warhorse, O. Rajagopal, 85.

On Saturday evening, all three candidates expressed confidence they would win the election.

Sabarinathan, who early in the day called the Aruvikara electorate his “extended family”, said the huge voter turnout looked “very promising” for him and that he would win by a handsome margin.

Vijayakumar said the electorate was waiting to teach a lesson to the Oommen Chandy government and described the heavy turnout as an expression of people’s aversion to the Chandy government.

Rajagopal said the people of Kerala were sick and tired of both the main political fronts headed by the Congress and the CPI-M and they would definitely vote the BJP to victory.