Massive turnout in Tamil Nadu

Barring a few minor incidents of violence, polling went peacefully

Provisional figures put the polling percentage across the state at 75 to 80, out of a total electorate of 4.7 crore, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Praveen Kumar said.

Barring a few minor incidents of violence, polling was by and large peaceful, as it was in the neighbouring Union territory of Puducherry where people voted to elect a new 30-member Territorial Assembly.  

The early hours witnessed brisk and orderly polling in all the 234 constituencies in which 2,748 candidates in all are in the fray. Long queues outside polling stations were seen right from 8 am when polling began.

People, including the elderly, the disabled and housewives all came out in good numbers in the first few hours itself, reflecting a sense of keenness and purpose, as opposed to the usual voter apathy in urban areas.

Barring several complaints of ‘name deletion’ from voters’ list, and initial malfunction of 65 electronic voting machines  most of which were replaced, the CEO said polling was orderly and the voting percentage a record. Provisionally, Karur district saw the highest of 86 per cent and Tuticorin 74 per cent. 

Krishnagiri, Salem, Namakkal, Ariyalur, Virdhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Tuticorin and Kanniyakumari districts showed early robust polling. It was sluggish till noon in Vellore, Nilgiris and Nagapattinam districts, he said. The pace picked up later even in those districts.

Women voters in particular were seen flocking in large numbers to the polling stations in Srirangam in Tiruchirappalli district from where the AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha is contesting. In several districts like Dharmapuri, the women voters’ queues were longer than those of their male counterparts.

Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi, accompanied by his wife Dayalu Ammal, after voting at Gopalapuram, sounded confident of the DMK-Congress alliance winning a comfortable majority.

His son M K Stalin, who voted in the same booth, declared that the DMK-front “will win 230 seats.” Karunanidhi struck a realistic note and hinted at a possible coalition rule. He said the “DMK may either win enough seats to form a government on its own or the alliance led by it may win a majority.”

Jayalalitha, after casting her vote along with her friend Sassikala in the Stella Mari’s College booth, part of Thousand Lights constituency in the city, told reporters that she was confident of a ‘landslide victory’ for the AIADMK and its allies. People would give “a clear mandate for us”, she said.

She alleged that money power played a role despite the Election Commission’s efforts to curb it. The commission seized over Rs 50 crore. “This is only the tip of the iceberg,” for the amount involved (to lure voters) was about Rs 5,000 crore, Jayalalitha charged. 

She referred to the state government’s ‘refusal’ to pay the daily allowance of Rs 300 to paramilitary forces deployed for poll duty contending that “they are idling their time.” The security personnel were ‘enraged’ at this, Jayalalitha claimed.

Regarding this issue, Praveen Kumar said there had been ‘some miscommunication’ to the Opposition leader. There had been no such payment problem.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram at Kandanur in his native Sivaganga district.