CHENNAI: The Election Commission on Saturday revised Tamil Nadu’s April 23 voting percentage to 85.10%, down from the earlier estimate of 85.15%, a decrease of 0.05%. This marginal correction accounts for 28,672 voters, pegging the current state total at 4.87 crore votes.
The ECI is yet to release the final polling data and the provisional data is subject to change. Meanwhile, ECI has recommended there is no need for re-polling in any booths.In contrast, Chennai’s numbers surged after the ECI’s re-verification exercise added nearly 72,000 voters to the capital’s 16 constituencies.This pushed the city’s overall polling percentage from 83.7% to 86.2%. Meanwhile, ECI declared that scrutiny of all 75,064 polling stations resulted in “no re-poll” recommendations.
According to ECI’s provisional data, 4,87,99,141 voters, representing 85.10% of the 5,73,43,291 registered electors, participated in the assembly poll to elect representatives for the state’s 17th assembly. The Commission arrived at this figure after revising its data at 3pm on Saturday. Karur district recorded the highest polling percentage at 92.65%, standing 7.55% above the state average. Notably, the Karur constituency, which witnessed a tragic stampede claiming 41 lives during TVK chief Vijay’s roadshow last Sept, topped the state chart with 93.41% polling.
Veerapandi constituency, in AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami’s native Salem district, followed closely with the second-highest turnout at 93.36%.While several districts such as Dharmapuri, The Nilgiris, Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga saw a meagre drop in polling, Chennai’s 16 constituencies saw a significant 2.5% jump. After re-verifying data and adding postal ballots, the total votes polled in the capital rose to 24.41 lakh.Postal ballots, cast by the elderly, essential service workers, election staff and police personnel, accounted for 20,189 of these votes.Anna Nagar saw the highest increase with 6,888 additional votes, while Velachery and Kolathur recorded 4,300 and 3,900 additions, respectively. The lowest additions occurred in Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni and Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar.“SVEEP is the best event GCC has conducted. With more effort, we could have touched 90%, though factors like migration and urban apathy make exceeding that mark difficult in cities,” said GCC Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran and attributed the success to awareness efforts.ECI deputy director P Pawan said, “No re-poll was recommended after scrutiny of the 75,064 polling stations.”The ECI has directed returning officers to inspect strong rooms twice daily. District election officers will visit headquarters’ strong rooms daily and those outside HQ every three to four days. Additionally, candidates’ representatives may set up camps at strong room premises to maintain a constant watch.
