Second time unlucky

By S. Ganesan

TIRUCHI, MAY 12. The row over the deletion of names came to the fore again as some of the voters were turned away during repolling at the 96 A1 F St.Agnes School booth at Ponmalaipatti in the Tiruverambur Assembly constituency here today.

The repoll was ordered in the booth, both for the Tiruverambur Assembly constituency and the Tiruchi Lok Sabha by- election, following malfunctioning of the electronic voting machine on May 10.

Strangely, many of the voters who were turned away today had cast their votes on Thursday. The disappointed and angry voters displayed their fingers marked with the indelible ink as proof of their having voted on May 10 and also produced their photo identity cards. The presiding officer maintained that as per instructions given to him, those whose names have been struck off the electoral rolls cannot be allowed to vote. The AIADMK candidate for the Lok Sabha by-election, Mr. Dalit Ezhilmalai, who arrived at the scene, took up the issue with the presiding officer on behalf of these voters, but to no avail.

The DMK candidate for the Tiruverambur constituency, Mr. K.N. Sekaran, who was also present, agreed that those who had cast their votes on May 10 should be allowed to vote today.

However, the presiding officer and the Returning Officer stood their ground. Both of them parried questions how these voters were allowed to cast their votes on Thursday.

Polling commenced on a dull note at the exclusive female booth, having a total of 828 votes, with the voters trickling in. Threehundred and fiftytwo votes were polled today, while 376 voters had cast their votes at the booth on Thursday.

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Section  : State Elections
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