Urban local body polls: Southern TN districts see brisk polling

Ramanathapuram district saw a polling percentage of over 8% as of 9 a.m.; confusion prevailed in Usilampatti due to the names of some voters missing

Polling for the urban local body elections commenced on a brisk note in many of the southern districts of Tamil Nadu on Saturday.

Madurai Collector S. Aneesh Shekhar cast his vote at a polling station in the Armed Reserve Police Grounds.

Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan stood in the queue, and cast his vote at Ward 96 in Harveypatti, Swami Vivekananda Vidya Mandir School.

In Ramanathapuram district, the polling percentage from four municipalities as of 9 a.m. was 8.11 % while the polling was brisk in all the nine town panchayats which accounted for 8.88 %.

In neighbouring Sivaganga district also, polling began at a fast pace and long queues consisting of women were seen in Tirupathur, Karaikudi and Devakottai respectively.

At the southern end, in Kanniyakumari and surrounding towns including Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Tenkasi districts also, there were no reports of untoward incidents, police sources said. A first-time voter cast her vote at the Jayendra Matriculation Higher School in Maharaja Nagar in Palayamkottai at 8 a.m. and said she was happy to fulfil her right without any hiccups.

In Theni, District Collector K.V. Muralidharan and Superintendent of Police Praveen Umesh Dongre visited a polling station at PC Patti Palaniappa Primary School and oversaw the arrangements. According to the Collector, polling was peaceful across the district from the reports reaching the election control room.