High voter turnout in Vikravandi, Nanguneri
Technical snag in EVMs, VVPATs and monsoon rain delayed polling in some booths in the constituencies; tokens issued in some after 5 pm
CHENNAI: The two vacant Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu – Vikravandi in Villupuram district and Nanguneri in Tirunelveli district recorded brisk polling on Monday and continued the trend of high voter turnout during the by-elections.
In labour dominated Vikravandi, the public braved the rains since morning recording 84.36 % while polling in Nanguneri which was dull till noon, gained momentum by the final turn out reached 66.10 per cent.
“The counting of votes will commence on Thursday at 8 am and all security arrangements are in place,” Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo who reviewed the arrangements for counting of votes told reporters here on Monday. “By and large it was a violence-free peaceful election and there were no major untoward incidents. Vikravandi recorded a whopping 84.36 per cent of polling and Nanguneri registered 66.10 per cent of polling. The poll percentage in Vikravandi was three per cent higher compared to the previous election poll percentage of 81.25 in 2016. In case of Nanguneri, the poll percentage dropped to 66.10 per cent from 71.92 per cent in 2016, Sahoo said. A few faulty complaints in electronic voting machines and voter-verified paper audit trail machines were reported but the same was replaced. The error and faults were minuscule within permitted error parameters, Sahoo explained. Commenting on the election process, Sahoo said that the voting machines have been moved to strong rooms under the supervision of party poll agents and paramilitary force.
According to public election department sources, the polling was brisk from 11 am to 1 pm where the polling was around 20 per cent within two hours. The overall poll percentage of the State was 68.87 per cent. Officials have fixed web cameras to monitor the strong rooms for the next two days. On the day of counting, counting agents will be allowed to enter the counting station by 7 am and the counting will start by 8 am, poll officials said.
VIKRAVANDI/MADURAI: The by-elections in Vikravandi and Nanguneri were largely peaceful. Vikravandi constituency witnessed brisk polling right from the start on Monday.
People crowded the polling booths both in urban and rural areas. Due to technical snag developed in EVMs and VVPATs there was delay in commencement of voting in four booths in Vikravandi. Due to technical snag developed in VVPATs voting was delayed by an hour in three polling booths in Thoravi, Vikravandi and Solamundi and Pidaripattu village.
Drinking water, toilets, wheel chairs and ramps were present. However, in some of the polling booths, including the polling booth in Nathamedu neither the ramp nor the wheel chair was present. Due to incessant rain there as water logging in front of the polling booth and bricks were placed to enable the entry of voters into the booth.
Gowthaman protests
Meanwhile, Director turned politician Gowthaman, who contested as an independent candidate in Vikravandi constituency staged a protest in front of Panchayat Union Middle School in Vikravandi which housed three polling booths claiming that there were more than six agents for every political party in all the booths. He raised slogans stating that only two agents were allowed for every candidate in each polling booth and demanded the police personnel to remove the excess agents. Due to the commotion there was tension in the three polling booths but shortly the excess party agents were ousted.
In many polling booths there was commotion witnessed between voters and polling staff due to absence of documents mandated by the Election Commission.
In Nathamedu village, as soon as the polling commenced there was verbal altercation between voters and polling staff as they demanded Aadhaar card but as many did not have the card there was altercation. Initially, the police strength was low in Nathamedu but after the altercation the strength was increased.
Allies PMK, DMDK cadres clash
During the final hours of polling cadres of PMK and DMDK, both part of ruling alliance, clashed in Kalyanamoondi village. Local sources claimed that there was problem in distribution of booth slips to voters and bringing voters to polling booths in the village since morning. However, police interfered.
Machines replaced
Meanwhile in Nanguneri Assembly constituency barring snag at a polling station in Nanguneri and some technical problems at few polling stations, the bypoll went off smoothly since morning Tirunelveli Collector and District Election Officer Shilpa Prabhakar Satish said.
An electronic voting machine at polling booth numbering 91 at Vadukachimathil suffered some technical failure disrupting polling. Polling resumed after an hour on getting replacement. Besides, VVPATs were replaced in polling stations 9, 33, 92, 103, 106, 140, 294, 91,286, 146 and 43, sources said.
Despite monsoon rains, voters carrying umbrellas turned up in polling booths and waited for their turn to exercise their democratic right. Brisk polling was witnessed initially from 7 am to 9 am, during which 18 per cent of polling was recorded. However, voter participation came down gradually in some polling booths. When rain subsided after 10.30 am, moments later, polling picked up again. There’s a steady increase in polling and until 5 pm, 62.32 per cent was recorded.
Since many voters turned up at the fag-end of polling process, tokens were given to them at 92nd polling booth in Vadukachimathil and at 210th booth at Salai Kulam.