Polling peaceful in south amidst villagers boycott

MADURAI: Amidst tight security, polling passed off in a peaceful manner in Madurai and other Lok Sabha constituencies across south Tamil Nadu, except for some incidents on Friday. In many parts, voters queued up early ahead of the polling schedule to avoid scorching heat and waited for their turn to cast their votes.

Several voters from five villages, including Chennampatti, Unnipatty, Odaipatti, Melapatti and Peikulam boycotted polling as their demands for closure of an urea plant at Chennampatti village near Kalligudi in Madurai was not met, sources said.

In Thoothukudi, over 700 voters from Pottalurani village boycotted polls as their demands for closure of a fish processing unit were ignored. Meanwhile, some of the protesting villagers were angered when Fisheries Minister Anitha R Radhakrishnan along with his supporters tried to convince the villagers to vote. The villagers did not let the Minister step down from his vehicle, sources said.

Much to his shock, a 70-year old voter Maruthappan from Chinthamani Nagar, Kovilpatti was denied access to vote at 192nd booth at Pudhugramam, despite having booth slip as the record marked him as deceased. Maruthappan was shocked to hear that he is no more. The elderly voter did not give up and with the help of Kovilpatti Tahsildar, who got his fingerprint and signature, cast his vote at last.

It’s a disappointment for 320 voters, who reside at Muslim street area, Sivakasi in Virudhunagar constituency, as they claimed that their names were found missing in the voters’ list. Many of those disappointed voters with families thronged the polling booths stationed at Muslim Higher Secondary School and Thevamar School in Sivakasi.

In Theni LS constituency, almost hundred voters laid siege to a polling booth at Uppukottai near Veerapandi as they were denied voting without valid documents.

In Tirunelveli, C Robert Bruce, Congress candidate, sought additional time of 25 minutes during the polling schedule since an EVM at polling booth number 61 in Manakavalampillai Nagar suffered technical problems.

Many voters from Nellaithiruthu, a village near Thalaiyuthu in Tirunelveli boycotted polling as they were against drawing water from a common well to supply villagers of Alavanthankulam. Out of 997 votes, only 56 votes were said to be polled in the 93rd booth, sources said.