PONDICHERRY: The polling percentage recorded in 2006 Assembly elections is the highest ever in the Union Territory so far.

When the Election Department completed all poll-related calculations on Tuesday the final figures stood at a whopping 86.31 per cent.

"This is the highest ever recorded in the Union Territory. The last highest was 85.32 per cent recorded in 1971," S. Kumaraswamy Chief Electoral Officer told The Hindu .

96.44 per cent recorded in Yanam was the highest among the four regions followed by Pondicherry, which registered 86.38 per cent. Karaikal and Mahe reported, 85.12 and 78.98 per cent respectively.

One of the reasons attributed by the Election Department for the unprecedented voter turnout was due to the door-to-door campaign taken out by the candidates. The other reason being the incident free polling.

Probably for the first time, there were no major incidents reported during the polls. On Monday the polling went on even after the 5 pm deadline for more than half an hour in eight polling booths in the two regions. "Many voters had collected the slip and got entry into the polling booth, so we had to extend the time," he said.

Another interesting trend in the polling was the high attendance of women voters. Out of the 27 constituencies that went to the poll, the percentage of votes polled by women was higher in 23 constituencies. Higher percentage was reported even in constituencies like Modeliarpeth and Ariankuppam, where men voters outnumbered women voters.

The margin of difference was 5 to 6 per cent in the two polling booths — Government Middle School, Pannithittu and Government Primary School (South), Pillayarkuppam — of Bahour constituency, which reported the highest women turnout.

As far as the highest polling recorded booth wise, it was reported in the Government Primary School Guirempeta booth at Yanam. Out of the 732 women voters, except one all cast their votes.

Counting of votes

Meanwhile, counting would begin at 8 a.m. on May 11 and the initial lead of candidates would be known one and a half hours from the counting starts.

In the beginning, the postal votes would be counted and though it is lesser in number it's time consuming, according to G. Theva Neethi Dhas, District Collector cum District Electoral Officer.

There are a total of 218 candidates in fray, including 76 Independents.

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