Tamil Nadu’s rural local body elections counting is underway in nine districts with a total of 31245 officials on duty for vote-counting in 74 centres. The districts are Chengalpattu, Kallakurichi, Kancheepuram, Ranipet, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, Tirupattur, Vellore and Villupuram.
According to the state election commission, all the counting centres are under CCTV surveillance and three-tier security of 6200 personnel has been deployed. The district collector and the relevant candidate agents were present when the ballot boxes were opened in the centres’ strongroom.
For many parts, the counting process has not been without issues. At a centre in Karur, the counting process led to a heated argument between the DMK and AIADMK members. In Tambaram, the counting process was halted for some time as the on-duty personnel complained about the administration’s failure to offer food and water. The issue was resolved later.
A scuffle broke out between booth agents and police personnel at a centre in Marakanam town in Villupuram district, as the agents were not allowed inside on grounds of being late.
The rural local body elections were conducted in two phases. The first one occurred on October 6 with a turnout of 77.43 percent and the second one on October 9 saw a turnout of 78.46 percent.
The election will fill 23,978 posts of which the first phase was to elect 78 district panchayat ward members, 755 panchayat union ward members, 1,577 village panchayat presidents, and 12,252 panchayat ward members. The second phase was to elect 62 district Panchayat ward members, 626 panchayat union ward members, 1,324 village panchayat presidents and 10,329 village panchayat ward members.
The counting of votes for the casual elections to fill vacant posts in 28 districts is also taking place simultaneously. According to the officials, 70.51 per cent polling was recorded in casual elections.
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As per the officials, a turnout of 70.51 percent has been recorded in casual elections, whose counting is also underway simultaneously to fill vacant posts in 28 districts.
The state election commission’s website will be updated with the election results.