TIRUCHY: Voters staged a protest and boycotted polling at a booth in the Manapparai constituency, condemning the police for reportedly chasing away cadres from various political parties who were campaigning for their respective party candidates inside the polling station premises on Thursday. The polling resumed after four hours.
It is said that the polling booth (No 225) located at Government Primary School at Vellayakonpatti in Manapparai constituency was seen with functionaries from political parties wooing the voters when the SP S Selvarathinam came for inspection. Soon, the SP asked them to move from the spot but the political functionaries argued with the police. This resulted in a mild lathi charge to remove them.
On seeing this, the DMK functionary Shanmugamurthi intervened and argued with the police, but the police secured and took him to the police station.
The shocked voters staged a protest and blocked the Kaikatti-Puthanatham road by placing wooden blocks and stones. They demanded the release of Shanmugamurthy and boycotted polling.
Later, the Manapparai MLA and DMK candidate Abdul Samad, DSP Kavya and Assistant Returning Officer Bala Kamatchi held talks with the agitating voters but they continued their protest. The booth which had a total voters of 1,018 had polled only 346 at 11.20 am when the polling stopped.
After repeated talks, the voters withdrew their protest and the polling commenced at 3.20 pm. The residents said that around 10 voters including women were injured during the incident and they were admitted to Manapparai GH.