Counting of votes began at snail’s pace in Tiruvallur on Thursday morning. By 10 p.m., DMK was leading with 26 wins in the Panchayat Union ward members’ election, compared to 24 secured by the AIADMK.
The results across the several positions that went to polls remain unknown, and will be available only on Friday, officials said.
Besides the delay in starting counting, the staff in many of the 14 centres complained that breakfast and lunch were not provided on time to them, and in protest, walked out, refusing to be part of the process.
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“To reach these centres we left our houses as early as 5 a.m. A few even brought their infants along as there was no one to take care of them and they had to be fed too. Sorting and counting is a tedious process and that too it is stifling to sit inside the classrooms for hours. Hence we got agitated when the breakfast and lunch were delayed,” said a staff in Ponneri.
Similar complaints arose in Gummidipoondi, Pandur, Perumalpet and other counting centres.
Meanwhile supporters of the candidates turned unruly and crowded the centres. In Cholavaram and Perumalpet, the police used mild force to disperse the crowd.
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Out of the total 4,725 different posts, including Panchayat president and Panchayat Union Ward members in the district, 806 had already been declared winners unopposed.
The counting of votes was conducted in 14 centres on Thursday for the remaining 3,919 posts.
In the first and second phases put together, the district registered a voting percentage of 79.02%.
Out of the total 13,63,960 total votes, 10,77,799 were polled.
A total of 5,973 persons were involved in the sorting and counting process. Around 177 online cameras and over 600 offline cameras were used to monitor the process.