After a dull start, voting picks up to reach 70% in Virudhunagar district

Villagers boycott poll in Thachchakudi demanding new panchayat office, while only 24 out of 490 votes cast.

Villagers of Thachchakudi boycott poll demanding new panchayat office and only 24 out of 490 votes polled there; a good number of aged people had used the postal ballots; failure to distribute booth slips to all the voters slowed down the process at the polling stations

Polling in Virudhunagar district comprising seven Assembly constituencies passed off peacefully without any untoward incident.

Though initially the polling was very dull with fewer voters turning up at the 1,895 booths. Only 52.47% of voters had cast their votes till 3 p.m. and after that it picked up and 63.59% had turned up till 5 p.m. At the close of polling, it was 70.32%.

Men and women trickled in smaller numbers. However, more youths were seen in the polling booths in Kariapatti and Aruppukottai. “We had no untoward incident reported in the district throughout the day,” Superintendent of Police K. Feroze Khan Abullah said.

However, voters of two villages in the district boycotted the polling for different reasons.

Villagers of Thachchakudi in Virudhunagar Assembly constituency boycotted the poll demanding a new panchayat office in their village. Only 24 out of 490 votes of the booth polled, according to police officials.

The police said that the old panchayat office was located in the nearby Thalakudi village under Thachakudi panchayat. However, the new panchayat office was proposed to be constructed in Thachchakudi village. Since people of the other village objected, the work was stopped. With the case pending in High Court, the officials tried to pacify the villagers. But they continued to boycott.