Polling began at 7 am at seven polling booths across four districts in Tamil Nadu where the State Election Commission had ordered a repoll following complaints of booth capturing and other irregularities amid elections to the urban local bodies held on Saturday.
In Chennai corporation, the repolling was ordered in booth 1174 AV in ward 51 of Washermenpet and booth 5059 AV in ward 179 of Odaikuppam-Besant Nagar. Similarly, booth 17 W in ward 17 of Madurai district’s Tirumangalam municipality, booths 16 M and 16 W in ward 16 of Ariyalur district’s Jayakondam municipality, and booths 57 M and 57 W in ward 25 of Tiruvannamalai municipality will vote again on Monday.
As of 10 am, 42 of the 963 eligible voters at the booth in Washermenpet, and 188 of the total 1,326 eligible voters at the Odaikuppam-Besant Nagar booth have cast their votes.
The repolling is being held amid tight security measures and will continue till 6 pm with the last hour allotted for Covid-19 patients.
While those who voted on Saturday got their index finger inked, today the indelible ink is being applied on their middle finger.
At the booth in Chennai’s Besant Nagar, where 400 votes were polled before the EVM machines were damaged on Saturday, more than 20 police officials have been deployed under the Deputy Commissioner. Polling had come to a halt here allegedly after a DMK functionary and others entered the booth, damaged the voting machine and threatened the polling officials.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Adyar DCP P Mahendran said that of the 10 people who had damaged the EVM machines at the booth on Saturday, two have been arrested including DMK functionary Kathiravan (35). “Based on the complaints of the polling officers, Kathiravan and Selvam have been arrested, we are searching for the rest. The two have been booked under section 504 of the IPC as well as under the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act.
Barricades have been placed around the booth and only voters with a valid ID proof are allowed inside the area.
Elections to the state’s urban local bodies were held in a single phase for 21 corporations, 138 municipalities and 489 town panchayats on Saturday. The counting of votes will take place on Tuesday.
Once voting was completed on Saturday, the EVMs were shifted to strong rooms in 268 counting centres across the state. Three-tier security arrangements have been put in place and the centres are under 24×7 CCTV surveillance.
