The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu established early leads over the main Opposition DMK, as the counting of votes polled in the bypolls to two Assembly seats--Nanguneri and Vikravandi--began amid tight security, today.
Trends suggest that the AIADMK was poised to wrest both the seats, which the party leaders see as the reflection of the performance of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami led government.
After nine rounds of counting, M R Muthamizhselvan (AIADMK) has established a lead of more than 19,000 votes, having polled 51,786 votes, over his DMK rival N Pugazhedi (31,859 votes) in Vikravandi.
In Nanguneri, after four rounds of counting, V Narayanan (AIADMK), who had polled 14,168 votes so far, was leading by a margin of 4,393 votes over his Congress rival Ruby Manoharan, who had so far polled 9,775 votes.
Naam Tamizhar Katchi candidates were trailing a distant third in both the Assembly segments.
