Tamil Nadu assembly elections: Poor show at urban centres brings down voter turnout

Urban centres pulled down voter turnout in the Tamil Nadu assembly election held on Tuesday. The overall provisional state average turnout was 71.79% as per the latest figures from the EC. It could be revised slightly upwards by Wednesday morning, once all assembly-wise figures are available, EC officials said.
As per the district-wise turnout details put out by chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo Chennai district saw the lowest polling of 59.4% and rural Kallakurichi recorded the highest polling, 78%.Namakkal had the second highest polling of 77.91%, followed by Ariyalur 77.88%, Karur 77.6%, Dharmapuri 77.23% and Perambalur 77.08%.
Almost all urban and semiurban regions have recorded low polling. Chengelpet district, which covers many outlying areas of Chennai city, recorded the second lowest turnout of 62.77%, followed by Tirunelveli 65.16%, Coimbatore 66.98%, Ramanathapuram 67.16% and Tirupur 67.48%. The 50 urban segments in the state registered a turnout of 65.8% in the last assembly elections held in 2016. Comparative figures for the 2021 elections would be available only by Wednesday.
Even Madurai 68.14%, Kanyakumari 68.41%, Sivaganga 68.49%, Tiruvallur 68.73% and the Nilgiris 69.24% failed to cross the 70% mark.
Mounting Covid-19 cases in recent weeks could be one of the reasons for the low voter turnout in Chennai and surrounding areas, feel analysts. For instance, Chennai alone registered 1,303 fresh Covid cases and five deaths on Tuesday. Overall, there were 3,645 new Covid-19 cases in the state.
Voters in most parts of the state, however, said they had to wait very little time at the polling booths as the commission had set up one polling booth for every 1,000 voters. In some parts of Chennai city, voters spent less than 5 minutes at the polling booths. In all, there were 88,937 polling stations for 6.28 crore voters.
Of the available constituency-wise voter turnout percentage, except Andipatti, all other segments in Theni district recorded less than 70% polling. In Madurai district, except the four segments in Madurai city, all others recorded more than 70% polling. In Virudhunagar district, except Virudhunagar segment, all others registered more than 70% polling. In Tirunelveli district, only Ambasamudram recorded more than 70% polling. All the five segments in Tenkasi district witnessed more than 70% polling, whereas Kanyakumari was the only segment in the southern-most district to breach the 70% mark.
Most regions witnessed incident-free elections. Tension prevailed since Tuesday morning at Kottur village in Pennagaram assembly segment as villagers boycotted elections protesting against the administration not providing basic amenities in the village, ensconced in the hills. “The 340 voters in the village did not vote,” said segment’s returning officer Thanikachalam.