Tiruppur district registered a polling percentage of 58.52 as of 5 p.m. during the election to the urban local bodies on Saturday.
According to the district administration, 6,63,939 persons voted across Tiruppur Corporation, six municipalities and 15 town panchayats as of 5 p.m. The number of men voters (3,35,029) was slightly higher than the women voters (3,28,875) and 35 voters from third gender exercised their franchise.
Among the urban local bodies, town panchayats saw the maximum voter turnout with 74.47%, followed by municipalities with 64.78% and Tiruppur Corporation had the least turnout with 52.76% as of 5 p.m., the officials said.
Polling was delayed by around 30 minutes at a polling booth in Municipal Middle School, Parapalayam in ward 42 of Tiruppur Corporation due to a faulty electronic voting machine (EVM) and polling personnel replaced it with a reserve EVM. At Municipal Middle School in Karuvampalayam of ward 43, a verbal altercation broke out between DMK cadre and an independent candidate P. Ramesh as the latter alleged the cadre of violating the Model Code of Conduct by wearing shawls that displayed the party’s flag, the police said.
At Kangeyam Municipality, two men engaged in a squabble with the police at ward 13 as they were not allowed inside the polling station after 5 p.m. Officials said that Kangeyam Municipal Commissioner S. Venkateswaran reached the spot and explained 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 inspected the 217 vulnerable polling stations across all urban local bodies through CCTV cameras at the Integrated Command and Control Centre in Tiruppur Corporation headquarters.
Out of the 440 wards comprising 60 wards in Tiruppur Corporation, 147 wards in six municipalities and 233 in 15 town panchayats, the election was held for 420 seats as 20 candidates were already elected unopposed. 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.
