Good turn out of voters towards the close of polling time – 5 p.m. – forced election officials, conducting the first phase of the two-phase rural local body polls in Coimbatore, to issue tokens to voters.
Returning officers in all the five panchayat unions that went to polls on Friday said that the polling booth presiding officers in several pockets had issued tokens to voters who had turned up to vote after 4 p.m.
The presence of a large number of voters in several pockets in the panchayat unions delayed tabulation of the total polling percentage in their respective unions and also sending the ballot boxes to the counting centres.
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Voters and political party representatives said that the people in rural areas would go to polling booths only after completing their work in farms, or tending to cattle and poultry.
It would be a stark contrast to urban areas where voters would turn up in the early part of the day.