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Only 41.12pc venture out to vote in core city zones, 49.68pc in added zones
When compared to the voters’ turnout recorded in the 2011 local body election, all the 15 zones have witnessed a dip in polling. In 2011, around 51 per cent of the voters had voted. However, one similarity between both the elections, which are a decade apart, extended zones recorded higher turnout than the city zones.
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Chennai
Despite housing more affluent and upper-class families, core city zones like Anna Nagar, Adyar and Kodambakkam have recorded very poor voter turnout on Saturday when compared to the relatively undeveloped extended zones. While the core city zones saw average polling of 41.12 per cent, the average polling in added zones was 49.68.
As per the poll data, the polling percentage was above 50 per cent in three of the eight extended zones — Tiruvottiyur, Manali and Madhavaram. Ironically, zones such as Adyar, Anna Nagar and Teynampet, both densely populated core city zones, have recorded around 38 per cent polling, which is the lowest. Kodambakkam registered 40 per cent polling. Overall, only 43.65 per cent of city voters turned to vote.
When compared to the voters’ turnout recorded in the 2011 local body election, all the 15 zones have witnessed a dip in polling. In 2011, around 51 per cent of the voters had voted. However, one similarity between both the elections, which are a decade apart, extended zones recorded higher turnout than the city zones.
VS Jayaraman of T Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association in Kodambakkam zone said the polling is low due to the previous experiences of voters with the councillors. “People have lost confidence in the councillors, which is one of the important reasons for poor polling. Also, lack of NOTA would have played a role. People who don’t want to vote for anyone stayed at home,” he opined.
Meanwhile, G Vasudevan of AGS Colony Residents’ Welfare Association in Kottivakkam urged the Election Commission to adopt technology and make voting online for people employed away from home town. “This will increase polling. New facilities like the Cowin App should be adopted for voting,” he opined.
Repolling in two booths
Meanwhile, the Greater Chennai Corporation and district election office has announced repolling in booth 1174AV in Washermenpet in ward 51 and booth 5059AV in Besant Nagar in ward 174 on Monday.
Polling will be conducted from 7 am to 5 pm and COVID-19 patients will be allowed to vote between 5 pm and 6 pm.
11 booked for ransacking Tiruvanmiyur booth
Tiruvanmiyur police have booked 11 men in connection with the booth capturing incident reported in the Odaikuppam area during the local body elections on Saturday.
The main accused Kathirvel and 10 others have been booked under Section 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of IPC and Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act, said police. However, no arrest has been made yet. The case has been registered based on a complaint of the election flying squad.
After inquiries, police said Kathirvel, who is the kin of Tiruvanmiyur DMK ward secretary Jayakumar, decided to rig the polls at the 179th ward due to a low turnout of voters as he thought it might affect the victory of DMK candidate contesting there. Kathirvel along with 10 other men barged into the polling booth around 4 pm, wielding knives, and damaged the EVM after sending out the booth agents and election staff.
Tension prevailed in the area due to the incident and polling was affected for about an hour until a new EVM was brought to replace the damaged machine.
Tiruvanmiyur police took DMK ward secretary Jayakumar to the police station for an inquiry in connection with the incident, leading to a protest of DMK cadre blocking the traffic in Tiruvanmiyur. Mobile phone clips of the protest and agitators arguing with motorists trying to pass through them went viral.
Tiruvanmiyur police have also booked AIADMK woman Kala on the charges of distributing cash to voters in front of a polling booth in their jurisdiction. A case has been registered against her under section 171E (bribery) of IPC, said police.
She was caught distributing cash to voters by DMK cadre and handed over to the election flying squad on Saturday morning.
3.7K active cases, but only 57 turn out to vote
Despite the Greater Chennai Corporation and district election office making arrangements so that COVID-19 patients could vote in the urban local body elections, only 57 patients visited the booths to cast their votes.
“We have informed the COVID-19 patients in the city about the polling time. But the turnout was minimal. Most of the patients, who voted, belong to the central region,” an official said.
As per the State Election Commission guidelines, the civic body allowed infected persons between 5 pm to 6 pm. On the polling day, the city had more than 3,700 active cases.
Meanwhile, the civic body dissolved the flying squad teams on Sunday. The officials, who were in the teams will resume regular work. Two days before the polling day, the number of flying squad teams were increased to 90 from 45 with each zone having six teams. Since the model code of conduct came into effect in the city, the flying squad teams seized cash worth more than Rs 27 lakh and gift items worth more than Rs 1.27 crore. As per the data, the cash and gifts were seized from cadres of DMK and AIAMK parties among other seizures.
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