Chennai/Thiruvananthapuram, April 13: An average of nearly 78 per cent voters exercised their franchise to elect new assemblies in the key southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the Union territory of Puducherry today.
While Tamil Nadu and Kerala registered a turnout of 75.21 per cent and 74.4 per cent respectively, in Puducherry it was the highest at 85.21 per cent, Deputy Election Commissioner J P Prakash told reporters in Delhi.
Prakash said polling was by and large peaceful and the percentage was likely to go up.
However, in Salem in Tamil Nadu, a 58-year-old AIADMK sympathiser died in a stampede after police baton charge to disperse those gathered around a polling booth. Later, AIADMK sympathisers blocked the Sivathapuram main road. They also damaged police vehicles by pelting stones.
—Agencies