Polling in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts passed off peacefully on Tuesday barring a few incidents of boycott calls and missing of names in the voter list.
Voters in 12 Assembly constituencies of Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts turned up in large numbers at several polling booths at the start of polling. Their steady arrival through the day ensured uniform increase in hourly percentage of polling. Around 5 p.m., 66% of polling was recorded in Thanjavur and 69.59% in Tiruvarur, sources said.
Polling was by and large was peaceful in the two districts barring incidents of boycott calls given by voters of three villages in Thiruvidaimaruthur segment in Thanjavur protesting lack of amenities and by some people in Nannilam constituency in Tiruvarur who demanded assurance from officials that group houses allotted to them in the past would be renovated.
At Ponnappur in Orathanadu constituency, a woman who moved to Chennai recently after marriage lamented that her name had been deleted from the voter list although she had not applied for it.
At most of the booths, face masks were distributed to voters arriving without them. Civic workers checked their body temperature, applied sanitiser on their hands and provided gloves.
At the end of the day, the average voter turn out in Thanjavur district was put at 73.93%.
The voter turn out was highest at Orathanadu in the district with 78.24% followed by Tiruvaiyaru with 78.13%. Peravurani recorded 77.09%, Thiruvidaimarudur 75.8%, Papanasam 74.89%, Pattukottai 71.75%, Kumbakonam 71.44% and Thanjavur 65.71%.
Nagapattinam
The polling process went off peacefully in all 1,861 booths in Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts, Nagapattinam Collector and District Election Officer Praveen P. Nair said.
Micro-observers monitored the poll process at 114 booths identified as sensitive.. Fishermen stayed away from sea to cast their votes due to which thousands of mechanised and fibre-glass boats were stationed at the harbours in Akkaraipettai, Nagore, Keechankuppam, Pazhayar and other fishing harbours. Commercial establishments also suspended business for the day to facilitate the poll process.
Ariyalur
Brisk polling was witnessed in both Ariyalur and Jayamkondam constituencies in Ariyalur district. Long queues were seen in most of the booths right from 7 am.
Polling was stopped a while following the malfunctioning of Voters Verifiable Audit Paper Trail (VVAPT) at Ameenabath near Ariyalur. However, polling resumed shortly after it was replaced.
