Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday lauded 99-year-old HV Hande, a former AIADMK minister and veteran of Indian politics, for casting his vote in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. PM Modi shared a message highlighting the importance of voting, quoting Hande, who first exercised his franchise in 1946.
Sharing a message on X, the Prime Minister said, "An extremely important message! I hope you will strengthen our democracy by casting the highest number of young votes."
Hande, a veteran politician and former AIADMK leader, has been elected as a legislator five times and served twice as Health Minister in the cabinet of MG Ramachandran.
85% voter turnout recorded in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu witnessed a record voter turnout of over 85 per cent on Thursday during elections to 234 Assembly constituencies in a three-cornered electoral battle involving the ruling DMK, AIADMK and new entrant, actor-politician Joseph C Vijay-led TVK. Polling passed off peacefully without any major incidents.
The turnout was a record 85.05 per cent with Karur leading at 92.48%, followed closely by Salem at 90.42%, Dharmapuri at 90.02%, Erode at 89.97% and Namakkal at 89.63%.
Election officials indicated that the numbers were still being consolidated and that the final voting percentage might increase.
Though the turnout is considered historic, ruling DMK sources said the polling should reach between 88 and 90 per cent to be tagged as "unprecedented or historic" polling.
Every Assembly election since 2001 has seen an increase of at least 30 lakh votes, sources claimed.
Prior to the 2026 elections, the 2011 polls witnessed 78.29 per cent, the highest in TN poll history. Late J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK trounced archrival DMK in the hustings then. In the 2021 Assembly polls, the turnout was 73.63 per cent, and 4.59 crore electors had voted. In 2021, about 6.29 crore were the registered number of voters.
The 4.82 crore votes polled on April 23 for the 2026 Assembly election are approximately 23 lakh more than what was witnessed in 2021.
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