The car festival of Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple and ‘Ethir Sevai’ of Lord Kallalagar, two major events of the annual Chithirai festival that happened on Thursday, had no significant impact on the voter turnout in the Parliamentary election for Madurai.
The polling percentage stood at 65.83%, a decline of roughly two percentage points from 67.87% witnessed in 2014 election. While the decline in rural areas was marginal, urban areas witnessed a noticeable decline. Madurai South Assembly constituency, in particular, recorded a significant decline of four percentage points from 2014.
Officials, however, claimed that the decline could not be attributed to Chithirai festival, but instead to other factors such as election coinciding with a long weekend.
The overlapping of Chithirai festival with polling was a major concern for Madurai with all the political parties expressing apprehension over low voter turnout and potential law and order issues.
Contrary to assumptions, many polling stations in and around Masi streets, where the car festival was held, witnessed brisk polling in the morning. For instance, MAVMM School near East Masi Street recorded nearly 20% polling by 9 a.m.
N. M. Santhanam, 82, who cast his vote at the booth, said that he came to the polling booth with the help of his relatives after seeing the ther. “I have never missed to vote in an election. I came to vote after the ther crossed my area,” he said.
The impact of the festival on polling, however, could not have been possibly mitigated if not for the extension of poll timing for Madurai Parliamentary constituency by two hours till 8 p.m. This was indicated by the the lower than average turnout witnessed till 6 p.m., when voting came to an end in other places in the State.
Collector S. Natarajan said that elaborate planning and execution helped in ensuring that both the poll and Chithirai festival did not affect each other. “We were confident that the devotees will certainly exercise their right to vote. Our Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign focussed on this, asking voters to attend the festival and vote,” he said.
Commissioner of Police S. Davidson Devasirvatham said that while managing security arrangements for both Chithirai festival and polling was an uphill task, the police pulled it off with the deployment of over 3,000 personnel and meticulous planning. “No untoward incident was reported anywhere in the city,” he said.
