No by-election in the recent past in Madurai district was as incident-free as Saturday’s by-poll to the Tirupparankundram Assembly constituency.
However, the overall turnout in a by-election to the constituency has seen a drop to 71 per cent from 89 per cent, which was recorded in the last by-election held for the Thirumangalam seat in 2009.
Between 2006 and 2009, the district witnessed three by-polls that gave Madurai the dubious distinction of introducing ‘Thirumangalam formula’ — a combination of several innovative ways to lure voters.
While in rural areas, the turnout was high in the morning, those in the city limits made it to the booths in a leisurely manner.
There was no tension that is usually attached to by-elections. The polling, like the entire campaign, passed off peacefully in the constituency, where 28 candidates were in fray.
Police personnel were deployed in the booths to regulate the crowd. This was in sharp contrast to the Madurai west and Thirumangalam by-elections where the EC had banned the entry of police into the polling stations which were manned by Central paramilitary forces, a police officer said.
The entire constituency with 291 polling booths was fortified with city and rural police deploying a large number of personnel.
“Movement of people was made tight within 200 metres of polling booths,” said Madurai Commissioner of Police Shailesh Kumar Yadav. Twenty eight candidates were in the fray, with key candidates being A.K. Bose of the AIADMK, P. Saravanan of the DMK, T. Thanapandian of the DMDK and R. Srinivasan of the BJP.
The overall turnout in a by-election has seen a drop to 71 per cent from 89 per cent in 2009
