The district witnessed peaceful polling on Tuesday and recorded 66.54 poll percentage.
Poll percentage in these 5 segments – Tirunelveli, Ambasamudram, Palayamkottai, Nanguneri and Radhapuram - in 2016 Assembly election was 69.
Speaking to reporters after casting his vote in a booth at St. John’s Higher Secondary School in Palayamkottai, Collector V. Vishnu said the polling was going on smoothly as all arrangements had been put in place and reviewed. The EVMs would be taken to Government College of Engineering, Palayamkottai, the counting centre, by 157 teams, each led by a Zonal Officer, he said.
Model booths with reception team, decorated shamiyana, chairs for waiting voters and medical team had been established at Madharasa School in Kailaasapuram, MDT Higher Secondary School, Tirunelveli Junction, Loyola Convent in Palayamkottai, ‘All Women Booth’ at St. John’s Higher Secondary School attracted everyone’s attention as even the police personnel deployed there were also women.
Though technical glitches in Electronic Voting Machines in more than 20 polling booths gave anxious moments to the polling personnel, technicians rushed to the spots to rectify the problems within the shortest possible time so that there was no significant delay in commencing the polling.
As distribution of ‘booth slips’ could not be completed before the deadline of April 5, the Block Level Officers were stationed at booths to distribute booth slips to the voters on arrival. A good number of voters had downloaded the ‘booth slips’ on their mobile phones.
While use-and-throw polythene glove and sanitizer were offered to the voters after the person deployed at the booths for this purpose checked the body temperature of the voter with the thermal scanner, the voters did not bother to ensure physical distancing even though lime powder circles had been drawn in front of the booths.
In the first two hours of polling, Tirunelveli district recorded only 6.66% of polling that gained momentum to some extent in the forenoon. While poll percentage in all other segments in the district had crossed 60% by 5 p.m., less than 54% of the highly literate Palayamkottai voters had cast their votes by this time, much to the disappointment of the officials.
A family of three from Perumalpuram in Palayamkottai, who are in home quarantine after getting recovered from COVID-19, were allowed to cast their votes in the booth in their area around 6.30 p.m. After the polling personnel were given the personal protection kits including full cover, the trio in full cover, cast their votes.
“As the couple’s daughter, a postgraduate medical student of Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital, contracted the viral infection, they tested positive. Since they have recovered from the viral infection and tested negative, they are in home quarantine as of now. Since they wanted to cast their votes, they were allowed to do so after all precautionary measures were taken,” said a Corporation official.
