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55 per cent polling in
violence-free TN elections

An estimated 55 per cent of the 4.74-crore electorate in Tamil Nadu cast their votes to electing the next government in the state on Thursday, with few incidents of minor violence reported from some parts.

With the final figures from individual polling stations yet to be tallied, it may hover around 60 per cent, if not more, according to sources.

While there a fewer complaints of missing voters, compared to the past, there were many complaints relating to non-functional voting machines, in the first-ever 'e-polls' of the scale in the country.

According to reports, long queues of people began gathering at most polling stations across the state even at the crack of dawn, as polling commenced at 0700 hours IST and went on till 1600 hours IST. Unlike most earlier occasions, a substantial turnout was reported as much from urban, elitist centres as from lower and lower middle class localities.

The situation remained mostly unchanged throughout the day.

Starting on a sluggish pace, preceded by a tiring and longish alliance talks and seat-sharing negotiations, the poll campaign in the state had a nail-biting finish, what with various opinion polls revising early predictions, to claim a photo-finish of sorts.

That being the case, it was as much a pollster's poll as the voter's, with the electorate turning out in good number, if only for leaving nothing to chance.

Among the early voters in Madras city were Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi along with his wife, AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha, Tamil Maanila Congress leader G K Moopanar, Union ministers Murasoli Maran and T R Baalu, apart from Tamil cinema's super-star, Rajnikanth.

Incidentally, Jayalalitha and Rajnikanth were both voters in the Stella Maris College polling station in the Thousand Lights Assembly constituency, from where the mayor and DMK Youth wing leader, M K Stalin, son of the party supremo, is seeking re-election.

From outside the city, MDMK General Secretary Vaiko and former Union finance minister P Chidambaram, who as leader of the TMC Democratic Forum, has been the star attraction of this poll's campaign, cast their votes in their villages. With simultaneous by-elections being held for the Tiruchi Lok Sabha seat, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, Sukumaran Nambiar, and the AIADMK nominee and former Union Minister, Dalit Ezhilmalai, are trying out their electoral luck.

While minor incidents of violence were reported from a few centres in Madras and elsewhere, the elections were mostly violence-free, thanks to the low popular interest in the run-up to the polls, and extensive arrangements by the police machinery. With violence-ridden caste politics assuming added significance in this election, and pan-Tamil militancy coming to the centre-stage with the Rajkumar abduction, involving brigand Veerappan, that too in the light of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination and the Coimbatore serial blasts, both occurring on the election-eve, giving a bad name to the state, this year's peaceful polling has helped restore the fair name of Tamil Nadu.

Likewise, there were a few complaints of malfunctioning in the electronic voting machines, which delayed the start of polling in some booths. However, in most such cases, it was a kind of starting-trouble, rather than a subsisting snag. There were also usual complaints of 'missing voters' and 'dead voters', but their numbers were few and far between.

One snag, however, related to fewer polling stations for the ever-increasing number of electorate. The longer time taken by the additional clerical job involved in the process, like verification of voter identification, and obtaining his signature, through the processes evolved over the past decades, has added to the woes of polling officials.

However, neither political parties nor the election authorities seems to have taken note of it.

PTI adds: Tamil Nadu Deputy Assembly Speaker and DMK candidate for the assembly elections, Parithi Ellamvazhuthi, escaped unhurt when a group led by a rival candidate attacked a DMK election office, police said.

Tamizhaga Munnetra Kazhagam leader and AIADMK front candidate for Egmore Constituency, John Pandian, and 33 others were arrested in connection with the attack and violence, city police commissioner P Kalimuthu stated.

Vehicles used by the assailants and weapons including knives were also seized, he said adding the arrested have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Kalimuthu said trouble broke out at the end of polling when Pandian and his men objected to the presence of a DMK polling agent in a booth.

When the presiding officer informed John that the officer had allowed the man inside, a quarrel ensued and the agent was attacked. The agent has been hospitalised with stab injuries, he said.

Pandian and his group then allegedly attacked a nearby DMK office where Ellamvazhuthi was present. They also damaged some vehicles, Kalimuthu said.

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