Tamil Nadu Assembly polls | Tension prevails at polling booth

People protest against polling officials who allegedly broke the seal of a VVPAT unit in the presence of an AIADMK booth agent.

A large group of people protest outside a polling booth at Vazhaithoppu in Madurai South constituency on Tuesday night.

Tension prevailed outside a polling booth in Vazhaithoppu in Madurai South constituency on Tuesday night as a large group of people protested against polling officials who, they said, had broken the seal of a VVPAT unit in the presence of an AIADMK booth agent.

M. Boominathan of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, an ally of the DMK, and S.S. Saravanan of the AIADMK are the main contestants in the constituency.

The protesters alleged that when the seal of the VVPAT unit was broken booth agents of all the parties, except the AIADMK, were kept uninformed.

However, District Collector T. Anbalagan denied the charges and said that the Presiding Officer had given details about the final voters to the agents of all political parties. “The polling personnel had only removed the battery from the VVPAT unit. The seal of the machine was not broken,” he added.