Around 40% of the 4.72 crore voters exercised their franchise by noon on Monday in the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in neighbouring Pondicherry, official sources said.
Brisk polling was reported throughout Tamil Nadu and there was no report of untoward incidents, the sources said.
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M Karunanadhi, former Union minister, T R Baalu, Tamil superstar Rajnikant, TN Congress Committee president G K Vasan and Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary L Ganesan were among the first to vote in their respective areas.
As many as 571 candidates are in the fray.
Jayalalithaa and several others complained that names of several voters were missing from the electoral rolls.