Heeding demands from voters in two villages in the Kulithalai area of Karur district, the district administration has taken steps to establish a new polling station closer to their habitat. This may end the ordeal of Arapulipatti and Kanakkampatti voters who have to otherwise travel 8 km to exercise their franchise.
In the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, voters and public from Arapulipatti, Kanakkampatti, Udayapatti, Sorakkapatti, and Ayyampalayam in Vayalur panchayat of Krishnarayapuram Panchayat Union used to cast their votes at a polling station in Vayalur village that is 8 km away. But in the local body elections, a polling station is established at Kanakkampatti itself.
Since there is no direct public transport facility between those villages and Vayalur, the voters, especially the elders and women, were finding it difficult to exercise their franchise in the Assembly and Parliamentary elections. They used to get a lift from their fellow villagers and others to visit the polling stations. In the past, the political parties themselves used to transport the voters who found the going tough as the Election Commission tightened the noose around such transportations.
They then voiced their grouse and demand over the media that caught the attention of the District Election Officer and Collector S. Jayandhi.
K.P. Thalapatti, Vijayapuram, Kullampatti and Kolathur villagers were also demanding that they be allowed to vote in a polling station nearer to their locality.
Ms. Jayandhi along with Assistant Returning Officer and Kulithalai RDO Chitrairaj, Krishnarayapuram Assistant Returning Officer Liaqat, Kulithalai Tahsildar Sadasivam, Krishnaryapuram Tahsildar Veni conducted spot inspection of the polling stations and met the people of the village who had sought the relocation of polling stations.
The district administration has prepared a report on shifting polling station in Thalapatti and establishing a new polling station at Kanakkampatti and has forwarded the proposal to the Election Commission. Based on its orders, action would be taken, sources indicated.
