Lok Sabha polls | Rain in Talavadi hill affect movement of people to polling stations

Rain and strong winds disrupt voting in Talavadi hills, causing power outages and damage to banana trees.

Rain, accompanied by strong winds and thunder, lashed various parts of Talavadi hills disrupting movement of electors to their polling stations for an hour here on Friday.

Strong winds, followed by rains, began at 2 p.m. in Talavadi, Doddagajanur, Kodipuram, Talamalai and Ernahalli. People could not move out to vote for an hour. The hill area in the district comes under Bhavanisagar Assembly constituency and under The Nilgiris Parliamentary constituency. Later, people ventured out to exercise their franchise. Power supply was disrupted for 30 minutes.

Farmers said a tree got uprooted on the Doddapuram – Talamalai road affecting movement of vehicles. Highways department officials and workers removed the tree with the help of an earthmover and vehicle movement was restored after 30 minutes. Farmers also claimed that over 3,000 banana trees in the hill area were damaged due to the wind.