72.09 pc voting in LS polls, record polling likely in 40 yrs, TN poised to create history

Chennai: The single phase Polling to elect 39 members to the 18th Lok Sabha from Tamil Nadu ended on Friday evening with 72.09 percent of the 6.23 crore electorate exercising their franchise and the state is poised to create a record by registering the all time highest turn out in 40 years in its history once the final figure was released by the Election Commission.

Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said the polling was by and large peaceful and no major incident was reported from any part of the State.

In a tragic incident, two elderly voters, including a person who came in a wheel chair, died in a polling booth at Salem due to sizzling heat and a report has been sought from the District Election Officer in this regard, Mr Sahoo said.

The polling which began at 0700 hrs ended at 1800 hrs and passed off peacefully.

After a none too brisk polling in the morning because of the intense heat, it gained momentum as the day progressed after the heat wave subsided by around 1500 hrs in Chennai.

He said as per the provisional figures, 72.09 per cent of voters have voted as per the details available till 1900 hrs and it is likely to go up after compilation of details from all the 68,321 polling booths in 39 Lok Sabha Constituencies, as the electorate turned up late to cast their ballots due to the searing heat.

If this trend continued, Tamil Nadu is all set to create history by recording the highest turnout in 40 years, which will be an all time high in the electoral politics of the State.

The previous highest turnout was recorded in 1984 when 73.09 per cent of the total 3.09 crore voters then had cast their ballots during the legendary and AIADMK founder MGR regime, which had allied with the Congress.

Though the mercury level has been hovering around 103 to 105 Deg F mark over the last few days, there was a brief respite for the last two days, before the temperatures rose on the polling day today, forcing people to remain indoors, before they came out to vote in large numbers in the last couple of hours to vote.

Mr Sahoo said since more people are standing in queue to vote in many booths, the polling percentage is likely to increase further.

He said as per the provisional estimates 72.09 per cent of voters have voted till 1900 hrs and a final figure on the exact percentage will be announced by noon tomorrow.

This did not include the postal ballots cast by those deployed on election duty and they will be taken up during the counting.

As of now, the 72.09 per cent voting thus far was marginally less when compared to the last three LS polls, which recorded 73.22 in 2009, 73.74 in 2014 and 72.47 in 2019.

Kallakurichi recorded the highest of 75.67 per cent, while Chennai Central the lowest of 67.35 per cent. The other two Constituencies in Chennai South and Chennai North were 67.82 and 67.86 respectively, which is a significant increase when compared to the past elections.

Mr Sahoo attributed the spike in the polling percentage by the voters turning up at the fag end of polling to cast their ballots because of the heat wave as Chennai recorded 102 Deg F today.

As the heat wave relented after 1500 hrs, more number of voters came to the polling stations in the last three hours, that led to a significant increase in the polling percentage.

He said all the voters, who had entered the polling booths before 1800 hrs when the polling ended and were standing in queue and issued tokens, will be allowed to vote.

“Only after all those in queue are allowed to vote, the polling process will come to an end after the EVMs will be sealed and transported to strong rooms in counting centres amid tight security”, he added.

In the lone LS seat in the Union Territory of Puducherry 78.63 per cent polling was recorded as per provisional figures and a final figure will be known later.

In the bye-election to Vilavancode Assembly seat in Tamil Nadu in the southern tip of Kanniyakumari, the turnout was around 62 per cent at 1900 hrs.

The electoral fortunes of 950 candidates–876 men and 74 women–including 609 Independents were sealed in the EVMs and their fate would be known on June 4. Those in the fray included sitting MPs and first time candidates of various parties.

Leaders of leading political parties, including the DMK and its allies, their arch rival the Opposition AIADMK and the NDA Front headed by the BJP, and the Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK), have cast their ballots.

Besides, leading film personalities also exercised their democratic duty.

UNI