Of the 15.65 lakh registered voters in the 100 wards in the city, only a little over 7.63 lakh had voted for the elections to the local body on Saturday.
The data shared by the Coimbatore Corporation put the polling percentage at 48.79. The Corporation sources said this was likely to go up but only marginally as COVID-19 persons had voted between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
As the urban local body elections drew to a close on Saturday, Tiruppur district registered a polling percentage of 60.66%.
According to the district administration, 6,88,320 people voted across Tiruppur Corporation, six Municipalities and 15 Town Panchayats on Saturday. The number of men voters (3,47,502) was slightly higher than the women voters (3,40,775) and 43 voters from third gender exercised their franchise in the urban local bodies.
Among the urban local bodies, Town Panchayats saw the maximum voter turnout at 75.34%, followed by Municipalities at 66.35% and Tiruppur Corporation at 55.4%, as per the final polling data.
Polling was delayed by around 30 minutes at a booth in Municipal Middle School, Parapalayam, in Ward No. 42 of Tiruppur Corporation, due to a faulty EVM. Polling personnel replaced it with a reserve EVM. At the Municipal Middle School in Karuvampalayam in Ward No. 43, a verbal altercation broke out between DMK cadre and Independent candidate P. Ramesh, as the latter allegedly accused the former of violating the Model Code of Conduct by wearing shawls displaying the party’s flag, the police said.
At Kangeyam Municipality, two men allegedly got into a squabble with the police personnel at Ward No. 13, as they were not allowed inside the polling station after 5 p.m. Officials said Kangeyam Municipal Commissioner S. Venkateswaran reached the spot and explained to them that only COVID-19 patients will be allowed to vote between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. as per the State government order, following which the men dispersed.
Minister for Information and Publicity M.P. Saminathan cast his vote at a polling booth in Panchayat Union Middle School at Muthur Town Panchayat near Kangeyam. In the afternoon, District Election Officer and Collector S. Vineeth, along with Corporation Commissioner and Returning Officer Kranti Kumar Pati, monitored the 217 vulnerable polling stations across all urban local bodies through CCTV cameras at the Integrated Command and Control Centre in Tiruppur Corporation headquarters.
Of the 440 wards, including 60 in Tiruppur Corporation, 147 in six Municipalities and 233 in 15 Town Panchayats, the election was held to 420 seats on Saturday as 20 candidates were already elected unopposed. Dharapuram, Palladam, Vellakoil, Kangeyam, Udumalpet and Thirumuruganpoondi were the Municipalities and Samalapuram, Kunnathur, Rudhravathi, Avinashi, Sangaramanallur, Chinnakkampalayam, Uthukuli, Komaralingam, Muthur, Kaniyur, Mulanur, Kolathupalayam, Kannivadi, Madathukulam and Dhali were the Town Panchayats in the district. A total of 1,299 polling booths were set up across the urban local bodies, out of which 224 were identified as vulnerable, according to the Tiruppur district administration.
In the Nilgiris, voting started off at a slow pace, but picked up towards the end of the day, with 58.82% of votes cast till 5 p.m. People who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are currently recuperating were then allowed to vote between 5 p.m and 6 p.m in the evening.
Polling passed off peacefully in Erode district as over 68% of the voters exercised their democratic right. A total of 2,722 candidates were in the fray for 769 posts in Erode Corporation, the four municipalities of Gobichettipalayam, Bhavani, Sathyamangalam and Punjai Puliyampatti, and 42 town panchayats in the district. Except for a technical snag in two EVMs that halted polling for less than an hour, no adverse incident took place. Over 2,500 policemen were posted for security while 55 micro-observers monitored the polling in 184 sensitive booths.
Salem saw brisk polling, at 70.54%.
The elections were conducted to 60 wards under Salem Corporation, 165 wards in the Municipalities of Attur, Mettur, Edappadi, Narasingapuram, Idanganasalai and Tharamangalam, and 474 wards in 31 Municipalities here. Four candidates contesting elections to Town panchayats got elected unopposed following scrutiny of nomination papers. As many as 1,514 polling booths including 709 booths in Salem Corporation limits were set up for the elections here. As many as 7,267 polling personnel were deployed for election works here. 13,56,308 voters would exercise their franchise in the elections.
At the end of polling, 70.54% polling percentage was recorded in the district. 64.36% polling was recorded in Salem Corporation, 76.61% across six Municipalities and 78.49% in Town Panchayats.
Dharmapuri registered a total polling percentage of 80.49 in the elections to Dharmapuri Municipality and 10 Town Panchayats on Saturday. Dharmapuri municipality polled 81.37% marginally higher than the poll percentage of the 10 town panchayats that polled 80.14%.Krishnagiri polled 64.33% as of 5 pm. Krishnagiri municipality polled the highest with 74.03%, while the town panchayats polled 73.04%. Hosur Corporation with the highest number of voters voting for the first time on attaining Corporation status polled just 58.50%.
As of 6 p.m, the final polling percentage was yet to be declared for Krishnagiri municipality. Hosur Corporation polled 63.97% of the votes, while the town panchayats polled 75.8%. Of the 6 town panchayats, Nagojanahalli polled 84.07%; while Uthangarai polled the lowest with 69.89%. Krishnagiri registered an average poll percentage of 52.61% with the rural town panchayats polling higher percentage by 3 p.m. Hosur Corporation recorded 47.31%, and Krishnagiri municipality polled 60.08%. However, the average voter turnout of town panachayats polled 61.43 % pulling up the district poll average as of 3 p.m
