TN ULB polls: Low turnout in Chennai, surrounding Corporations

The urban local body polls, being held across Tamil Nadu after more than a decade, on Saturday, were by and large peaceful but turned out to be a low-key affair with poor voter turnout of over 55 per cent. 

While the semi urban areas of Tami Nadu comprising town panchayats recorded brisk polling of more than 60 per cent, the tier one cities, including capital Chennai recorded a poor turnout of close to 43 per cent.

The State-wide urban local body elections on Saturday went off peacefully except minor skirmishes in a few locations, including two in Chennai. 

“It went off peacefully. There were only five police cases across TN. We will continue to maintain vigilance till the EVMs reach counting centres on Saturday night and also till the counting is over on Tuesday,” noted a senior police officer late on Saturday evening.

The voting pattern in the western and southern belt of TN was much better when compared to northern Tamil Nadu and delta districts. The tentative State Election Commission data released late on Saturday showed Coimbatore, Salem, Erode, and Karur with good polling figures when compared to Chennai, Tambaram, and Kancheepuram corporation areas. 

Town panchayat areas recorded decent turnout but the polling was poor in municipal and corporation areas. Several booths wore a deserted look afternoon, said a government official. 

The final polling figures, in Kallakurichi, Dharmapuri, and Karur are likely to inch closer towards 70 per cent, the official said. 

The public has come to a foregone conclusion that the ruling DMK will have an edge and so most people have lost interest in local body polls resulting in low voter turnout, political commentator Raveendran Duraisamy said. “In my view, DMK will sweep the local body polls but the low voter turnout is an indication for the government to introspect,” Duraisamy added.

An elderly woman in Madurai, who turned 100 on polling day, exercised her franchise at Annanagar on Saturday. The centenarian, Gnanammal, a resident of SLG Nagar, entered the polling booth with the aid of her son, much to the delight of the voters and officials.