Polling was mainly issue-free in Namakkal district during the ordinary elections to urban local bodies. A polling percentage of 76.86 was recorded in Namakkal.
The local body elections was conducted to 153 wards in five municipalities, Komarapalayam, Namakkal, Pallipalayam, Rasipuram and Tiruchengode and 294 seats in 19 town panchayats. Two candidates were elected unopposed to municipalities and six persons to town panchayats.
According to officials, 365 polling booths were set up in the municipalities and 361 voting machines and control units were allotted to them. To 324 polling booths in town panchayats, 318 voting machines and control units were allotted. There are 5,50,884 voters in the urban bodies.
Tourism Minister M. Mathiventhan exercised his franchise at a polling booth in National Girls Higher Secondary School. District Collector Shreya P. Singh exercised her franchise at a polling booth in Ayyampalayam Municipality Middle School . The Collector later inspected polling booths and reviewed the progress of polling here.
Residents of Raja Nagar, near Kupuchipalayam under Paramathi Vellur town panchayat boycotted polling demanding that the authorities set up a polling booth closer to their residence as the present booth was about 3 km away. The protesters said that during ward delimitation, their ward 3 became ward 2 and polling booth was set up kilometres away. The protesters demanded measures to shift the booth nearby.
S. Shakthivel, a voter in Namakkal Municipality, said that the new governing body should take measures for the development of Namakkal town. He added that the bus stand must be improved and measures should be taken to reduce traffic congestion and improve basic amenities in town.
Steady polling was noticed in Namakkal from beginning hours. Over 12% of votes were polled by 9 a.m. By 3 p.m, 64.19% of votes were polled in urban bodies. 74.6% of votes were polled by 5 p.m. At the end of polling, 80.83% of votes were polled in town panchayats and 74.03% of votes were polled in municipalities.
