Chennai, July 10 (Reporter) Polling in the high stakes Assembly bye-election to the Vikaravandi seat in Tamil Nadu began on Wednesday morning, amid tight security. It will be a no-holds barred contest between the ruling DMK and the PMK, though the bypoll will witness a three-cornered contest, with NTK being the other party in fray. Long queues were seen in the booths even before the polling began at 7.00 a.m. and it will be held till 6.00 p.m as an estimated 2.37 lakh voters are expected to exercise their democratic right in the bypoll. This is the fifth election to be held in Vikravandi assembly seat and the second bye-election after it was formed after constituency delimitations in 2007. The Election Commission has made all arrangements to ensure a free and fair polling by deploying adequate police personnel and also central para-military forces as part of security machinery. Polling began in 276 booths of which 44 were identified as vulnerable and additional were deployed in these stations. All basic facilities for voters as well as polling officials, including ramps, were made in the polling booths. Live webcasting of the polling process were being made in all the booths and more than 1,000 EVMs were used in the bypoll. District Election Officer and Collector C. Palani visited various polling booths to ensure that voting was being held in a peaceful manner. The District Administration has declared dry days for three days from July 8 to 10 and also on July 13 (the counting day) in the entire Villupuram district in view of the bypoll. A total of 29 candidates, including those of the ruling DMK, the PMK and the NTK, are in the fray for the bye-elections. The bypoll is witnessing a three cornered contest between the ruling DMK-led Front, the BJP-led alliance and the Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) as the main Opposition AIADMK and its ally, the DMDK, have decided to boycott the polls alleging it will not be held in a free and fair manner as the ruling DMK will use its muscle and money power to win the polls. The main contest is between Anniyur Siva of DMK and BJP's ally PMK candidate C.Anbumani. NTK's Dr P.Anuradha is the other main candidate in the fray, while the rest were Independents. The bypoll to the Vikravandi seat in Villuppuram district, a DMK stronghold, was necessitated following the death of sitting DMK MLA N.Pughazhendi, who is also a senior party functionary in the district. He died in April after suffering health issues on his return after attending an election campaign meeting addresses by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M.K.Stalin. Of the four elections held so far, the DMK had won twice and was aiming for its third win. The seat was held by CPI(M) in 2011, the DMK in 2016, the AIADMK in 2019 bypoll and by DMK in 2021. This is the third bye-election to be held after the DMK came to power in May 2021 after a gap of ten years, winning the Assembly polls by a resounding margin and Mr Stalin becoming Chief Minister for the first time after his elevation as the DMK Party Chief following the death of his father and DMK Patriarch M.Karunanidhi in August 2018. The previous bypolls were held for Erode Assembly seat due to death of Congress MLA Thirumagan E.Ve.Raa and his father, former Union Minister and former TNCC Chief EVKS Elangovan contested it and won by a margin of over 50,000 votes. The other bypoll was held for Vilavancode seat along with the recent Lok Sabha polls on April 19 following the resignation of Congress MLA S.Vijayadharani, who had quit upon joining the BJP. The Congress retained the seat winning by a margin of nearly 41,000 votes. Mr Palani also inspected the arrangements made for the counting of votes at the Government Higher Secondary School at Panayapuram near Villupuram and ensured that all basic amenities are put in place. The counting will take place on July 13 and the election process will be completed on July 15...////...