The Melur Assembly segment with a little over 2.28 lakh voters registered the highest poll percentage of 73.72 in the Madurai parliamentary constituency in the 16th Lok Sabha elections that took place on Thursday.
A predominantly rural enclave, the Melur segment witnessed brisk polling in every election to the Assembly and Parliament in the past.
In the 2009 parliamentary elections, it recorded the second highest number of votes polled with over 1.35 lakh votes, despite having lesser number of electorate than Madurai East, Madurai West and Madurai North Assembly segments.
A number of programmes and awareness campaigns organised by the Election Commission notwithstanding, the overall voting percentage in the Madurai Lok Sabha constituency was only 68.04 against 77.43 per cent recorded in the 2009 elections. Of the total electorate of 14.39 lakh voters, only 9.79 lakh voters exercised their franchise.
The Madurai East, the largest Assembly segment in the constituency, recorded 72.15 per cent polling, a close second after Melur.
Polling booths in Madurai West and Madurai North segments with a large number of voters witnessed a poor turnout, bringing down the overall voting percentage of the constituency. While the West segment recorded a turnout of 64.49 per cent, the North recorded only 65.15 per cent.
At 4.92 lakh, the number of women voters in the constituency is significantly higher than the 4.86 lakh men voters. Once again, it was rural Melur that recorded a turnout of a whopping 78.74 per cent of women voters.
Despite a prolonged struggle for their voting rights and recognition, many transgender voters failed to show up at the polling booths. While the number of transgenders in the constituency is 53, only 26 cast their votes, a turnout of less than 50 per cent.
