77 per cent turnout in phase I

CHENNAI: A decline in voter turnout compared to the brisk polling of the State Assembly elections on April 13, marked the first phase of local body polls on Monday when all the 10 Corporations and 60 Municipalities, 259 Town Panch­ayats and 191 Panchayat Unions went to polls.Reports from across the State indicate that the urban electorate was less inclined to exercise their franchise than rural voters. Chennai Corporation recorded only 48 per cent voting, while Salem and Tirupur topped at 69 and 67 per cent. Overall rural voting percentage was 81 per cent, while town panchayats saw 79 per cent turnout and municipalities 73 per cent polling.The run-up to the elections saw aggressive campaigning by grassroots-level workers of various political parties, as most of the key parties are trying their luck individually, unlike the Assembly elections when they were in alliances—one led by the DMK and the other by AIADMK.The Left parties and DMDK—erstwhile AIADMK partners—have fielded their own candidates for the posts of Mayors, Municipal chairpersons, Panchayat Union presidents and councillors and ward members. Similarly, the PMK and Congress, which were with the DMK in April, are now on their own.Four persons were detained in Devipattnam for impersonation. A candidate for the Kondampalayam panchayat president’s post was held on charges of taking away ballot papers from a booth. He was peeved when told that somebody else had cast his vote.In Panruti Municipality, polling was extended till 6.30 pm in two booths as voters kept streaming in, while in Kammapuram in Cuddalore, candidates and supporters blocked the Viruthachalam-Chidambaram road, accusing poll officials of wards 7 and 8 of winding up by 4.30 pm. In Paniamarathupatti Panchayat Union council polls, symbols were mixed up in the ballot papers, prompting authorities to postpone polling to Wednesday.Muslim voters in two wards in Coimbatore opted for no vote in the councillor election in protest against SC/ST rese­rved wards. But they voted for the Mayor’s post.