There's a surge in first-time voters in many booths in Tamil Nadu: CEO Sahoo

This time, there is an apparent surge in first-time seen across many booths in Tamil Nadu, according to the state's Chief Electoral Officer, (CEO) Satyabrata Sahoo.

Polling picked up gradually in all 39 Lok Sabha constituencies across Tamil Nadu after commencing on a dull note early in the morning. The state registered a poll percentage of 40.05 at 1 pm, according to official data.

The Election Commission (EC) has taken steps to ensure voting takes place smoothly, Sahoo told The Federal. "We have 181 critical polling booths in Tamil Nadu. Our officers are constantly monitoring them through CCTV live footage. So far, no untoward incident has been reported," he said.

Voting was incident-free but for some minor glitches in the functioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) at a few places.

Voting boycotts

Tamil Nadu has witnessed some voting boycotts this time. For instance, at 9:30 am, the Ekanapuram village booth in Kanchipuram district had recorded just nine votes. Residents, protesting for over 600 days against the greenfield Parandhur airport, have chosen to boycott the election.

There were reports of a few government and EC officials pressurising voters of Ekanapuram to vote. Responding to this, Sahool told The Federal: "We cannot force anyone to vote because we are in a democratic set-up. Government officials requested people to vote, but did not force them to do it."

Similarly, residents of Vengavayal village of Pudukottai district decided to boycott the election. In December 2022, human faeces were found inside an overhead tank that supplies water to Scheduled Caste residents in the village.

Despite ongoing investigations, no arrests or significant progress has been made. In protest, the village has abstained from voting today.

Meanwhile, about 1,000 voters of Ennore, who had announced to boycott the election over the ammonia gas leak incident at Ennore Creek withdrew their decision and decided to vote.

Two deaths

Asked about the death of a voter at a polling booth each in Salem and Kallakurichi constituencies, Sahoo said he had sought a detailed report from the district election officials on the incident.

"Appropriate measures were taken at all the polling centres to provide shade and drinking water to protect the voters from the intense heat," the CEO said, as quoted by PTI.

The two persons have been identified as R Chinnaponnu, 77, in Thammampatty in Salem and N Palaniswamy, 69, of Suramangalam in Salem.

With inputs from Pramila Krishnan.