Puducherry: Voting for the Thattanchavady by-election was held peacefully today. From early morning itself, voters stood in long queues and cast their votes enthusiastically. 80.81 percent of the votes were recorded. This is 6.29 percent lower than the last general election.
In the recently concluded Assembly election in Puducherry, Chief Minister Rangasamy, who contested and won in two constituencies, Mangalam and Thattanchavady, resigned from the Thattanchavady constituency. Following this, the Chief Election Commission officially announced the by-election schedule on the 7th of last month. Accordingly, the by-election for this constituency was held today.
In the Thattanchavady constituency, 11 candidates contested in total, including 6 from political parties and 5 independents. The main contest was among N.R. Congress candidate Ashok Anand, Congress candidate Vinayagam, DMK candidate Sethuselvam, and Communist Party of India candidate A.M. Saleem.
The constituency has a total of 26,921 voters. This includes 12,575 men, 14,341 women, and 5 third-gender voters. It also includes 350 differently-abled voters and 3 overseas voters.
148 government employees were deployed for polling duties. The polling stations were monitored by 23 micro-observers. To ensure that voting proceeded peacefully, all liquor shops in the Thattanchavadi constituency had been closed for the past two days.
Basic facilities such as drinking water, toilets, ramps, and electricity were provided at all polling stations. Shade tents were set up so that voters would not have to stand in the sun. Arrangements were also made to provide ORS solution to protect against the heat.
At all 31 polling stations, mock polling was conducted and verified on the voting machines in the presence of agents before voting began. Voting then started.
Because the heat was intense, many people stood in line from early morning to cast their votes. Voters were given voter information slips with queue cards. In all 31 polling stations in Tattanchavadi, 1,330 personnel, along with armed paramilitary forces and police, were deployed for security duty.
Out of the total 31 polling stations here, the booths at Koundampalayam Muthu Rathina Arangam Higher Secondary School and Vinobhanagar Poiyakulam Community Hall were identified as sensitive, and additional security was deployed.
At all polling stations, two surveillance cameras were installed at each location, and live monitoring was carried out. Arrangements were also made for the public to contact the online live monitoring control room regarding complaints related to voting.
The voting that began at 7 a.m. ended at 6 p.m. Since there was no one at the polling station after 6 p.m., no token was issued, and the voting time was not extended like in a general election. At 6:20 p.m., a man came with his family to vote at the polling center on East Coast Road. However, as the election work had been completed, he was not allowed to vote. He returned disappointed.
As of 9 a.m. today, 19.2 percent of votes had been cast. As of 11 a.m., 39.16 percent of votes had been cast. As of 1 p.m., 56.31 percent of votes had been cast. As of 3 p.m., 68.91 percent of votes had been cast. As of 5 p.m., 78.83 percent of votes had been cast. In the end, 80.81 percent of votes were cast.
In the recently concluded Assembly election, 87.1 percent of votes had been cast in this constituency. It is noteworthy that voter turnout in this by-election has fallen by 6.29 percent compared with the last general election.
Once voting was completed, the voting machines were sealed and sent to the Motilal Nehru Polytechnic Center, where the vote count will take place. The votes cast will be counted on the 9th, and the results will be announced.
In the Thattanchavadi constituency, not only educated youth but many others are also working outside the area. There are practical difficulties in them coming on a one-day leave for this by-election. Therefore, they say that their decision not to come was a major reason for the decline in voter turnout.