Tamil Nadu: 9.72% Of Voters Cast Their Votes Till 9 AM In Second Phase Of Local Body Polls 2021

The counting of the votes will take place on October 12.

A polling officer providing sanitisers for voters | Credit: ABP Live

Chennai: The voting for the second phase of rural local body elections in the nine newly-formed districts started at 7 am on Saturday and till 9 am 9.72% of the people casted their votes. According to the details released by Tamil Nadu State Election Commission, the overall voting percentage stood at 9.72% but the highest turnout was from Villupuram with 13.88% people casting their votes. 

The next highest turnout was at Kallakurichi with 12.07% voters casting their votes followed by Tenkasi with 11.75% voters turning up to exercise their democratic right. The lowest voting percentage was reported in Tirupattur with 5.22% people turning up for voting and the second lowest voter turnout was reported from Chengalpattu with 6.85% voters casting their votes.

The election was largely incident free except a few villages boycotting the polls for different reasons. In Villupuram, the people of two constituencies--Thani and Virpattu--boycotted the election placing various demands. The villagers of Virpattu boycotted the election with the demand to carve out their village from Aviyur panchayat union and turn it into a seperate panchayat union of Villupuram district, said a report on ABP Nadu. 

In Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly speaker M Appavu cast his vote at Lebbai Kudiyiruppu in Radhapuram Union. In Theni, district Collector KV Muralidharan conducted inspections at Mayiladumparai village panchayat.

In the first and second phase of local body polls, nine newly formed districts including Chengalpattu, Kallakurichi, Kacheepuram, Ranipet, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, Tirupattur, Vellore and Villupuram went for voting.

The first phase of rural local body elections took place in the state on October 7 with 74.37% of voters casting their votes. The election was held largely peaceful except for minor clashes between AIADMK and DMK in Ranipet and Kallakurichi districts.

The counting of the votes will take place on October 12.