Tamil Nadu’s Chief Electoral Officer announced on Friday that the overall voter turnout across the state for the Lok Sabha elections was 71.87%. While Dharmapuri parliamentary constituency witnessed the highest voter turnout in the state at 80.49%, Chennai South registered a dismal 56.41%, the lowest in the state. Bye-polls to 18 state assembly seats were also held on Thursday with Sholingur registering the highest voter turnout at 82.26% and Perambur, the lowest at 64.14%.
The final figures also take into account polling in the Madurai district, which concluded two hours after the rest of the state on account of the extension it received due to the Chithirai festival happening there. However, many voters said that they were turned away from polling booths because they did not have booth slips.
In a press conference in Chennai, CEO Satyabrata Sahoo also said that voters who faced deletion from voter lists could have availed special camps organised by the Election Commission (EC) prior to polling day. “The actual instructions given were that booth slips or voter slips cannot be used as ID card. ID card has to be taken along. A lot of people standing in line took along both the booth slip and the ID card. Few people had taken along only the ID card. So, if booth slip and ID card had been taken along, there would have been no problem,” he said.
The CEO added, “We had conducted special camps giving opportunity for addition and deletion of voters for 8-10 days. They have not checked the voter list; only checked online, called the helpline and come to the booths. We have asked the district collectors for the reason (for deletion) to ascertain whether it is over absence or shifting.”
However, the fact remains that scores of households across the city did not receive booth slips. In fact, as chaotic scenes began to be reported from polling booths on Thursday, the CEO had said that all voters will be allowed to vote if their name is in voter list. “Voter slips have been issued. Political parties have also given the voter list. Voters may identify with these also even if they are not carrying the voter slip. But one of the identity cards is necessary,” he had said.
The polling percentage figures handed to the media will go through another round of cross-verification with the aid of the Presiding Officer’s diary across each polling booth in the state for both sets of elections, said the CEO. While 2.05 crore men cast their ballot, 2.11 crore women and 1,011 transgender persons also exercised their franchise. In the state capital, Chennai North saw a turnout of 63.47% while the Chennai Central constituency registered 59.25%.
When asked about Nathamedu, a polling booth which reportedly witnessed a booth capture by members of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), the CEO said the media and political parties had brought the matter to the EC’s attention. “We have sought special report from the DEO,” he said. The state EC has also sought reports from the Kanyakumari collector over a name deletion incident in the district, in addition to reports on problems with EVMs and VVPATs. These will be sent to ECI, the CEO said. “Observers will also give their final reports. Re-poll will be always taken into consideration based on the observers’ remarks,” he said.
Source: The News Minute