Counting peaceful in all districts barring minor issues

Results apart, what drew the attention of onlookers was the issues that came out during the process. Counting was delayed by three hours at a centre in a private college in Arcot town in Ranipet district as staff were unable to sort out the votes polled for panchayat president, panchayat ward member, panchayat union ward member and district panchayat ward member. It took nearly more than two hours for officials to resolve the issue.

Similarly, officials, who were not provided breakfast till 10.30 am at a counting centre in a private engineering college in Arakkonam PU, started feeling dizzy. Meanwhile, Poorani (27), a teacher of Odugathur on poll duty, fainted due to food allergy and was rushed to the hospital, thanks to the timely intervention of Vellore SP D Selvakumar.

Counting at the Katpadi Government Law College was held up for around 40 minutes as candidates’ agents objected to a sack which contained a ballot box without the mandatory seal. Police then pacified those present and counting resumed. Two PU wards (Vinnampalli and Elayanallur) in Katpadi PU saw councillors being elected unopposed.

In Tirupattur district, reporters staged a dharna in front of the counting officials room as they were not provided any information. A similar incident was witnessed at KV Kuppam where the press people walked out for a similar reason. In most counting centres, the media were not provided information after each round.

In Tiruvannamalai district DMK won the Cheyyar and Pernamallur PU ward members posts while the AIADMK won the Pudupalayam PU ward in the polls for the 34 casual local body vacancies.

Smooth in Nellai, Tenkasi

Tirunelveli Collector and District Election Officer V Vishnu inspecting the arrangements in a counting centre at Palayamkottai said with the keen involvement of around 2,000 staff in counting, the process could go up to Wednesday morning.

During the counting process, Poll Observer J Jayakanthan inspected the proceedings in a centre, which comes under Manur Panchayat union, in Tirunelveli.

Tenkasi Collector S Gopala Sundararaj said about three or four rounds of counting were completed until 8 pm, and five more rounds are yet to be completed.

Adequate police force led by Tirunelveli Superintendent of Police N Manivannan has been deployed and Tenkasi SP R Krishnaraj said the vote counting is going smooth so far.