Chennai (Tamil Nadu) April 23 (ANI): Actor Dhanush arrived at a polling station in Chennai on Thursday to cast his vote for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections being held across the state.

Leading film director, producer and screenwriter Pa. Ranjith exercised his democratic right by casting his vote at a polling booth located in a school in Karalappakkam Panchayat under the Madhavaram Assembly constituency in Tiruvallur district.

Actor Aravind Swamy also cast his vote at Stella Maris College in Chennai's Teynampet.

Meanwhile, actors Prabhu and Vikram Prabhu urged citizens to exercise their democratic right. Speaking about the importance of voting, Prabhu told ANI, 'Putting a vote is every Indian citizen's right. So, please don't miss voting. Whoever you want to vote for, please do come and vote. That is the service you are doing for the country and for the state. God bless all, God bless Tamil Nadu, God bless India. Please do come and vote.'

Vikram Prabhu emphasised that voting is a responsibility and encouraged people to understand issues and participate meaningfully in the electoral process.

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.Vijay cast his vote at the Neelankarai polling booth.

Actor-turned-politician Vijay is contesting from the Perambur and Tiruchirappalli East constituencies.

In Perambur, Vijay is pitted against DMK heavyweight RD Shekar, who recorded a landslide victory in the last elections by a margin of 54,976 votes against AIADMK's NR Dhanapalan.In Tiruchirappalli East, he is contesting against sitting DMK MLA Inigo Irudayaraj S, who won with a huge margin of 53,797 votes in the 2021 elections.The counting of votes will take place on May 4. (ANI)