Chaos as electorate names go missing in Kovai

Confusion prevailed outside several booths in Coimbatore for the urban local body polls as names of voters were found missing in the voters list.

The electorate grew upset as they were sent back by the polling staff after their names failed to appear in the voters list. 

Among them, the BJP Coimbatore South MLA and Mahila Morcha national president Vanathi Srinivasan was also turned away as her name did not appear in the voters list. The BJP leader had first visited the polling centre at Kamarajar Matriculation School in Tatabad to exercise her franchise. She was asked to visit the CMS School located nearby to cast her vote. 

Then, DMK workers had allegedly shot video of her car parked outside the booth with the party flag. Though Vanathi Srinivasan left the spot without uttering a word, the BJP functionaries broke into an argument with the DMK workers, before police intervened and pacified the two warring groups. 

A lot of other people too claimed that they couldn’t vote due to confusion in finding the exact booth in the district. “I have so far visited three schools in my neighbourhood, but still couldn’t find our names in the voters list anywhere. As there is also no proper reply from polling officials, I decided to leave home with my mother, wife and son without voting,” said Abdul Waqab.