Cong questions poll percentage, DMK justifies

While the Congress raised this apprehension, its key ally DMK rejected this theory.

The voter turnout according to officials was 7.40% at 9 am, 14.6% at 11.15 am, 29.46% at 1 pm, 52.32% at 3 pm, 62.94% at 5 pm and 72.62% at 6 pm. Though officials fixed the final tally was 71.51 per cent, some parties were sceptical about the figure.

Pernambut Town Congress Committee president G Suresh Kumar said, “I went around the entire Gudiyattam constituency and the voter turnout was poor. The usual serpentine queues in front of the booths were missing. It was also raining from Monday afternoon. The Returning Officer and Collector, A Shanmugasundaram, admitted that the turnout was low as people who were working in other districts couldn’t return to cast their vote.”

Flagging all these factors, Suresh Kumar wondered in such a situation how the turnout could be over 71 per cent.

Even the staff in one of the polling booths in Ambur town said that the voting might not cross 55 per cent.

Suresh Kumar added that he was planning to urge the TNCC president KS Alagiri to look into the matter. However, DMK party treasurer and candidate Kathir Anand’s father Duraimurgan was not apprehensive about the final percentage.

“Voters wanted to escape the morning rush and they turned up in large numbers after noon,” he said. A booth in Ambur was inaccessible to locals as only one of the three gates was open. When the issue was brought to notice of the Collector, it was set right and this encouraged the public to vote, he reasoned.

“Also, floriculturists in Vellore and Anaicut areas came to vote in the afternoon after harvesting and selling it for the day. This also reflected in the final voting percentage,” Duraimurugan added.

Duraimurugan cannot complain now as it would trigger a debate on the DMK’s victory in the 37 otther parliamentary seats in the state, an AIADMK source said.

All EVMs have been placed under three -tier security at a private engineering college in Ranipet that falls in Arakkonam Lok Sabha segment as the usual courting centre in Vellore – Thanthai Periyar Government Engineering College – expressed their inability to oblige as classes have started for the new academic year.