Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi get their fingers inked before casting their votes in Chennai on Monday. (PTI)

Chennai, May 8: Jayalalithaa’s rival DMK candidate today lost his cool and smashed an electronic voting machine, providing the lone moment of drama in the Tamil Nadu polls that witnessed a high turnout of 65 per cent.

Seeman’s rush of blood came at a booth in the state’s highest-profile constituency of Andipatti. He hurled the EVM to the floor, eyewitnesses said, after a quarrel between DMK and ADMK polling agents over guiding a visually challenged woman as she pressed the button.

On his way back from the booth, Seeman himself became the target of attack with stones being thrown at his car.

At the end the day’s polling for the 234 Assembly seats, state chief electoral officer Naresh Gupta told reporters an EVM was damaged at Rajendranagar in Jayalalithaa’s constituency in the morning. He didn’t name Seeman but mentioned the spat between the polling agents.

He said the EVM’s “control unit” ? which remains with the presiding officer ? was shut down, bringing polling to a sudden halt after 91 votes had been cast. The affected unit was sealed and another control unit provided.

Apart from a few minor incidents including closing-time skirmishes, polling was “very peaceful with no major untoward incident,” Gupta said.

The ADMK alleged that Union finance minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram drove around Karaikudi last night, distributing cash among voters. The Congress is contesting the seat as part of the DMK-led alliance.

“There are two versions about this incident; so I don’t want to go into it,” Gupta said.

The polling percentage of 65 was considerably higher than the 59 per cent recorded during the previous Assembly elections in 2001. Government employees, at the receiving end of mass dismissals by Jayalalithaa three years ago for an illegal strike, reportedly voted in large numbers.

Madurai and Erode registered 72-73 per cent while Theni, where Andipatti is located, came lowest at 57 per cent.

Chennai district, in which DMK boss and former chief minister M. Karunanidhi’s constituency of Chepauk falls, reported a 61 per cent turnout.

Neighbouring Pondicherry, where the Congress led by Rangaswamy is fighting to retain power in alliance with the DMK, recorded 83 per cent polling in the 27 of the 30 constituencies that went to the polls today. The three other constituencies had voted on May 3.

Among the “incidents” in the Tamil Nadu polls, Gupta mentioned the torching of an ADMK functionary’s car in Tiruchendur constituency, and a group in Pudukottai district barging into a booth in Nariampatti village to cast 45 votes in a row after “intimidating the presiding officer”.

In a booth in Mugaiyur constituency in northern Tamil Nadu, the voting machine failed to record any vote after the first 324. The Election Commission would decide in Delhi tomorrow whether a repoll is necessary.