Celebrities and well-known personalities are exercising their right to vote in Tamil Nadu.

As voting went ahead in Tamil Nadu on Friday, many celebrities including actors, sportspersons, classical singers and dancers came out to vote and stressed the importance of voting.

Many celebrities were seen heading to polling stations in the city on Friday to cast their vote. Actor Rajinikanth was all smiles as he walked into a polling station at Stella Maris University and posed with his fingers stained with indelible ink after exercising his right to vote. He urged voters to take part in the election drive, saying, “Saying you have voted implies dignity and respect. It is the duty and right of people.”

Actor Karthik and his son Gautham Karthik also cast their vote at the same polling station in the city. Other film personalities including actors Vijay, Ajith Kumar, Suriya, Karthi, Sivakumar, Prabhu, Trisha, Khushbu Sundar, Sundar C, Arvind Swami, Vikram, Sivakarthikeyan, Vijay Sethupathi, Ashok Selvan, Sneha and Prasanna also exercised their right to vote at various places in the city and posed for selfies with other voters.

Many of them then took to social media to show pictures of their finger tattoos and urged others to exercise their right to vote. Some, such as actor Sivakarthikeyan, gave hope to first-time voters and urged them to make an independent decision.

For music composer James Vasanthan, who voted in Palavakkam, it was a much simpler and hassle-free experience. “After a few posts were shared on social media, I consciously stood near the electronic voting machine to check my vote,” he said.

Other notables including classical artistes, sportspersons and educationists also flocked to the polling booths and enthusiastically declared their vote. Table tennis player Sharath Kamal cast his vote at Nungambakkam and even took a selfie with his daughter. Meanwhile, Apollo Hospitals Group Executive Vice-Chairperson Preeta Reddy and her husband Vijaykumar Reddy cast their vote at Good Shepherd School, Nungambakkam.

Bharatanatyam dancer Urmila Satyanarayanan registered her vote and posed for the traditional photo outside a polling station in Kilpauk.

81-year-old percussionist TH Vic Vinayakram, accompanied by his grandson Swaminathan Selva Ganesh and moshing artiste A Ganesan, headed to the polling booth at Hindu High School in Triplicane. Vinayakram, who continues to perform in concerts, considers voting an important responsibility and even made sure to take a selfie at the polling booth's selfie point.

Grammy Award winner and percussionist Selva Ganesh also cast his vote at the same polling station.

Veteran Bharatanatyam dancers VP Dhananjayan and Shanta Dhananjayan decided to travel from Muttukadu to Damodarapuram in Adyar to cast their vote.

Dhananjayan, who recently turned 85, said he was a staunch nationalist who had never missed a vote before. “I decided to take an hour to reach the polling booth. This time it was well organised and I was able to cast my vote within a few minutes,” he added.