77.5 per cent is final voter turnout in RK Nagar bypoll

 As much as 1,76,885 votes out of 2,28,234 votes were polled during the by-election to the RK Nagar constituency resulting in a voter turnout of 77.5 per cent, said Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni. 

According to him, the highest turnout of 90.19 per cent and 89 per cent were recorded in polling booths 19 and 22 in Patel Nagar in Tondiarpet. In polling booths 19 and 22, 340 out of 377 voters exercised their franchise and 446 out of 499 voters exercised their franchise respectively. Poor turnout was reported in polling booths 94 and 130 in New Washermenpet wherein 624 votes out of 1,003 votes and 74 votes out of 1,228 votes were polled. 

Polling extended past 5pm on Thursday for those who had been issued tokens in as many as 84 booths and the last vote was polled at 7.43 pm in a polling booth in Korukkupet. Lakhoni said they were planning to re-organise the polling booths with the maximum ceiling as 800 votes per booth. Regarding poll expenses, he said that the EC has already spent over Rs 3 crore while over a third of which (Rs 1.3 crore) was for transport costs.