Polling begins in Puducherry

Puducherry, April 18 (IANS) Polling began on Thursday in the lone Puducherry Lok Sabha seat and in the Thattanchavady assembly constituency for which by-election is being held.The voting began at 7 a.m. and will close at 6 p.m.There are 18-candidates in the fray for the Puducherry Lok Sabha seat and their electoral fate will be decided by about 9.73 lakh voters.The main fight is between Congress party candidate V. Vaithilingam and All India N.R. Congress party candidate Narayanasamy Kesavan.Actor-politician Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam has fielded M.A.S. Subramanian.In the by-election for the Thattanchavady assembly seat, there are eight candidates in the fray and the main fight is between All India N.R. Congress party candidate P. Nedounzejiane and DMK's K. Venkatesan.
--IANS vj/pgh/