Chennai: The results of the recently held urban local body elections in Tamilnadu will be declared today, as counting of the votes started at 268 centres across the State at 8 am today. Postal votes were counted first.
State Election Commissioner V Palanikumar had said that the commission has made elaborate arrangements at all the 268 counting centers, including installation of CCTV cameras, deployment of security personnel, electricity supply, network connectivity, and other requirements.
All the counting centres are under a three-tier security blanket under the watch of police personnel and CCTV cameras. The single-phase polling to elect more than 12,500 ward members to 640 urban local bodies in Tamilnadu, held after 11 years, ended peacefully with 60.7 per cent average polling being recorded as of 10 pm on Saturday. At 43.59 per cent, Chennai district recorded the lowest turnout.
Stray incidents like a BJP man’s objection to a Hijab clad woman voter in a polling station in Madurai, altercations between groups and ruckus between DMK and AIADMK workers in some areas led to anxiety for a while.
There were also complaints about malfunctioning of EVMs in some polling stations besides multiple allegations of distribution of money against one and another. It includes accusations against both the ruling DMK in some cases and the main opposition AIADMK in respect of others. The BJP also alleged distribution of cash by the DMK across the State.
The elections witnessed a multi-cornered contest. Heading the field was the DMK-led Front, which consists of Congress, MDMK, VCK, CPI, CPI(M) and TVK.
The Principal Opposition AIADMK faced the polls along with TMC, after the PMK and the BJP, which had faced the 2021 Assembly polls together, walked out of the front and will contest the polls alone.
Other parties in the fray included, the DMDK of actor-politician Vijayakanth, actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam, Naam Tamizhar Katchi of actor-director Seeman, AMMK led by TTV Dhinakaran, who is the nephew of expelled AIADMK leader V K Sasikala and other minor outfits.