Like the Palayamkottai Assembly segment that houses literate population with relatively decent living conditions but constantly brings down the poll percentage in Assembly and the Parliamentary polls in the past, the Palayamkottai union has also brought down the district’s poll percentage in the first phase of the rural civic polls held on Wednesday.
While a rural union like Cheranmahadevi, housing mostly beedi-rollers and farmhands, has recorded over 74% poll percentage, Palayamkottai union, situated on the border of Tirunelveli Corporation and has been provided with better basic amenities, had the voter turnout of just 65.95% . Interestingly, no panchayat union in Tirunelveli and Tenkasi district except Palayamkottai union has recorded the poll percentage less than 70.
This is not the first time Palayamkottai has got this dubious distinction as its poll percentage in Assembly and the Parliamentary elections in the past was still lower – less than 60%.
The Tirunelveli district recorded an overall poll percentage of 66.54 in the Assembly polls held in last April. While the affluent Palayamkottai Assembly segment registered a poll percentage of just 57.76, the rural segment of Ambasamudram recorded a decent percentage of 72.05, the highest among all five Assembly constituencies of Tirunelveli district.
Other Assembly constituencies – Tirunelveli (66.90%), Nanguneri (68.60%) and Radhapuram (67.94%) – recorded a relatively decent poll percentage though not an impressive one.
In the previous elections also – let it be 2011 Assembly election or 2016 Assembly polls - Palayamkottai Assembly constituency effectively played spoilsport in bringing down Tirunelveli district’s poll percentage.
After registering a not-so-impressive poll percentage of 68.71% in 2011 Assembly polls, Palayamkottai’s figure fell sharply to just 59.90% in the 2014 Parliamentary elections. And, the poll percentage stood at 60% in the 2016 Assembly polls. The poll percentage, the constituency has recorded in the April 6 Assembly poll is the lowest in a decade as it has registered only 57.76%.
Now, the Palayamkottai union has retained this ‘distinction’ once again by registering the lowest poll percentage of just 65.95% among all the 10 unions of Tirunelveli and Tenkasi districts in the first phase of the rural civic body polls.
In Tenkasi district, Keezhapaavoor union recorded the highest poll percentage of 75.24 even as all other unions – Alangulam, Kadayam, Melaneelithanallur and Vaasudevanallur – have registered 70-plus percentage voter turn-out in the first phase.
