Polling for Tamil Nadu's 38 Lok Sabha constituencies and bypolls in 18 assembly segments began Thursday and Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan, and DMK's Dayanidhi Maran and Kanimozhi are among the key contenders for parliamentary polls.

Polling stations were teeming with enthusiastic voters even before 7am when polling began and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami was among the early electors in his native Salem district.