Counting day passed with no major incident of violence in the city, except for an attack on television crew outside the AIADMK headquarters on Friday afternoon.
The city police personnel, including 36 teams of the Striking Force, took their positions across Chennai on Friday morning to avert political clashes as the results were being released.
With an exclusive call centre set up at the police commissionerate in Vepery — to receive phone alerts on election-related violence — functioning from early Friday, two control rooms, for elections and Intelligence, respectively, were simultaneously operational, said the police.
Senior officers of the city force, including commissioner of police J.K. Tripathy, were on rounds monitoring security arrangements in sensitive parts of central, south and north Chennai. Teams led by joint commissioners manned each of the three counting centres.
“Reports of minor clashes were received at the exclusive control room. Police parties were swiftly dispatched to the spot and the tension defused at an initial stage. We could say the day passed without a single incident of major election violence,” said a senior officer.
However, there was a scuffle between two sections in Washermenpet on Friday evening. But the police responded quickly and eased the tension, asking some agitators to disperse. Investigators termed the clash apolitical.
