With a voter turnout of 71.04 per cent, the by-election for Tirupparankundram Assembly constituency here on Saturday witnessed a marginal increase compared to the election held in May last, in which the polling percentage in the constituency was 70.31.
Madurai Collector and District Election Officer K. Veera Raghava Rao, however, highlighted that the final polling percentage might see minor changes as the final figure provided by the Presiding Officers from all the polling booths was yet to be tallied.
Polling booths located in rural areas, constituting a major part of the constituency, witnessed reasonably a good turnout with people waiting in long queues since polling began at 7 a.m. By around 11 a.m., booths in many villages like Keelakuilkudi, Valayangulam and Kusavankundu reported more than 40 per cent voter turnout.
However, the brisk polling was offset by the relatively dull turnout of voters in urban and semi-urban areas and overall slowdown in the pace in later half of the day.
Mr. Rao said that the control room at the District Election Office received a total of 21 complaints, of which a few included allegations of cash distribution.
“Our teams immediately reached the spot and conducted enquiries. Not many of the allegations had any concrete evidence. Although some of the complaints are being enquired, no FIRs have been registered or arrests made yet,” he said. The incidents included one in Thenpalanji, where a man associated with AIADMK was accused of distributing food coupons to voters. Allegations of cash distribution were also made in Iravadanallur area.
The District Election Office had set up model polling booths in four places with banners welcoming the voters.
Twenty-eight candidates were in the fray in the elections, 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. Counting will happen at Madurai Medical College on November 21.
