Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

District records over 70 per cent polling

V.S. Palaniappan

Voting percentage of men is more than that of women

Coimbatore: A quantum jump in the polling rate during the last 90 to 120 minutes on Monday increased the polling percentage in the district to 70.12 per cent.

Though initial estimate of polling stood at 65 per cent, reports from returning officers late night have put the average at 70.12 per cent.

Percentage

Kinathukkadavu Assembly segment polled the highest of 75 per cent followed by Mettuppalayam (74 per cent). Tirupur (having a number of hosiery workers and migrant population) polled the lowest of 56.85 per cent.

The average polling stood at 59 per cent around 3.30 p.m. and polling during the last one-and-a-half hours led to a substantial increase in the percentage.

Interestingly, in all the 15 Assembly segments the voting percentage of men was more than that of women.

Disappointment

There were first-time voters who had turned up with acknowledgement slips (issued in lieu of Form 6 filed with the Electoral Roll Registration officer) seeking inclusion of names, but not finding their names in the rolls.

While the officials blamed these first-time voters for having failed to check the draft rolls, the voters accused the official machinery of not having properly displayed the supplementary draft rolls.

Most of them were fresh voters who had attained the age of 18 on the qualifying date, January 1, 2006, as stipulated by the Election Commission.

Coimbatore Consumer Cause (CCC), Secretary, K. Kathirmathiyon, had sent memorandums to the Election Commission of India and the Chief Electoral Officer seeking a detailed inquiry into such cases so as to fix accountability on the officers concerned.

Such practices would adversely reflect if youngsters' were not allowed to vote, he said.

Scrutiny

As per the directives of the Election Commission, the returning officers in respect of 14 out of the 15 Assembly segments have started scrutinising the polling pattern and its genuineness in 72 polling stations (out of the total of 3,638) that recorded over and above 85 per cent polling.

85 per cent

According to sources in the election machinery, except for Coimbatore East all the other Assembly segments had polling stations that recorded more than 85 per cent polling.

Fourteen polling stations in Mettupalayam and 12 in Kinathukkadavu Assembly segments recorded more than 85 per cent polling. Six polling stations in Thondamuthur, five each in Dharapuram and Palladam, four in Avanashi and two polling stations each in Udumalpet, Valparai, Pollachi, Coimbatore West, Singanallur and one in Tirupur are under scrutiny.

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