TIRUCHY: The polling for Tiruchy West by-poll was peaceful and recorded about 61 per cent, as per approximate figures arrived at by officials on Thursday. The exercise, which started at a slow pace in the afternoon, picked up in the evening. Unlike the last Assembly elections, which witnessed brisk polling from the morning, forcing voters to wait in long ques, the voting in the by-poll was dull initially. Most of the stations wore a deserted look. After the first hour, the polling stood at just eight per cent. However, polling gathered pace towards the end and the turn out went beyond 60. “During the last election, I came around 9.30 am and had to wait for more than an hour in a long queue. But this time, I just entered the polling station and cast my vote”, said 65 year old Dharmaraj of Thillai Nagar, where DMK candidate and ex-ministers KN Nehru and N Selvaraj cast their votes. The polling picked up after 10 am and the overall percentage reached 15 per cent at 10 am. This doubled and touched 31.7 pc by noon. It however picked up later and reached 43.14 per cent around 2 pm and 55 percent at 4 pm. Though the polling commenced exactly at 8 am in almost all the booths, there was a snag in booth number 132 at Quaide Milleth Nagar that delayed the polling for sometime. “There was a snag at unlocking the EVM and we rectified it soon”, said the presiding officer. A large number of police along with para military force was deployed on duty across the polling stations. The total voter strength in the segment is 2,08,491 including 1,05,497 women. A section of DMK advocates, led by Ramesh, submitted a petition with the RO K Sampath seeking action against AIADMK men alleging that they distributed booth slips with their party symbol to voters at Tennur General Bazaar, Vannarpettai in some booths.Sixteen candidates, including former minister KN Nehru (DMK) and M Paranjothi (AIADMK), are in the fray. Voters will have to wait for another week for the results, as the counting will be taken up only on October 20.
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