"Women's voice should be heard more in Assembly": Tamilisai Soundararajan says NDA to win Tamil Nadu polls

Speaking to ANI after casting her vote in Chennai, Soundararajan said she also wished Chief Minister MK Stalin.

The BJP leader said, "Women's voice should be heard more in the Assembly, so all the voters should support my candidature because I want to be a representative of the voiceless. People are happy that I am contesting here, and their mood is for a change and to bring NDA."

"I just wished MK Stalin, because he is the Chief Minister and here, he is a voter and a candidate. This is the beauty of democracy," she added.

Former Telangana and Puducherry Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan is contesting on the BJP ticket from Mylapore against DMK's sitting MLA Dha. Velu. While the DMK is backing infrastructure projects in Mylapore, Soundararajan aims to bring the seat back to the NDA camp.

The seat was held by the BJP from 2001 to 2006, after which AIADMK won it thrice consecutively. In the last elections in 2021, Dha. Velu defeated AIADMK's R Nataraj by a margin of 12,633 (8.3 per cent) votes.

Meanwhile, AMMK candidate Gnanasekar, contesting from the Tirupattur Assembly constituency, cast his vote at Polling Booth Number 103 at the Government Boys Higher Secondary School.

Polling for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections began today amid tight security. At 9 am, Tamil Nadu recorded 17.69 per cent voter turnout.

Tiruppur district recorded the highest turnout with 20.38 per cent voting, while Chennai district registered a turnout of 16.51 per cent, and Erode recorded 19.55 per cent turnout.

With the DMK banking on its Dravidian 2.0 model, the AIADMK-led NDA is fighting for a comeback. Actor-turned-politician Vijay is also set to make his electoral debut with his party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which could turn the contest into a three-way fight.

The counting of votes will take place on May 4. (ANI)