The Pollachi Parliamentary Constituency registered 70.70 % voter turnout in the Lok Sabha election held on Friday, as per the provisional data shared by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Tamil Nadu.
The constituency had recorded 70.78 % polling in the 2019 General Election when 10,76,005 out of the total number of 15,20,276 voters exercised their franchise.
The Pollachi Assembly segment recorded the highest poll percentage, followed by Madathukulam segment, as per the provisional voter turnout data shared by the Returning Officer. The lowest polling percentage was reported in Thondamuthur.
The provisional voter turnout data shared by the Returning Officer also showed a slight decrease in the overall polling percentage from the data shared by the CEO.
The polling was largely incident-free in all the six Assembly segments of the constituency, namely Thondamuthur, Kinathukadavu, Pollachi, Valparai, Udumalpet and Madathukulam.
Minor technical glitches to electronic voting machines were reported in at least two polling stations in the constituency as voting started at 7 a.m.
Madathukulam (12.14%) and Udumalpet (11.02%) segments witnessed brisk polling in the first two hours. However, the Pollachi segment stood first with 28.33 % till 11 a.m.
DMK’s K. Eswarasamy cast his vote at Karuppasamypudur in the Madathukulam segment. While the AIADMK’s A. Karthikeyan cast his vote at Divansapudur near Pollachi, BJP’s K. Vasantha Rajan exercised his franchise at Podanur.
Pollachi Sub-Collector A. Catherine Saranya distributed saplings to people who cast their votes at the Municipal Boys Higher Secondary School, Pollachi.
M.S. Rajendran (73) and his wife R. Vijayalakshmi (69), who exercised their franchise at Kottur near Pollachi, said they were proud to have cast their votes as part of the nation building.
In the tea estate-predominant Valparai Assembly segment, managements of all plantations declared holiday for their workers to exercise their franchise. There was a festive mood in several polling locations as the workers also enjoyed the holiday, besides voting.
R. Krishnan, a tea estate worker who cast his vote in a polling booth at Water Fall near Valparai, said most of them walked from their estate quarters nearby and the polling was smooth.
All the polling stations visited by The Hindu had ramps for the differently abled, wheelchairs and drinking water. Some of the bigger polling stations had wheelchair assistants on duty to assist the elderly and differently abled.
