Chennai: The counting of rural local body polls has started on Tuesday amid protests as booth agents and party workers staged resistance against vote counting which led to disruption in process. The local body polls were held for nine newly formed districts in two phases on October 6 (Wednesday) and October 9 (Saturday). The two Dravidian majors, DMK and AIADMK, are in fray for 27,003 posts. Considering the tough contest, in some counting centres party cadres indulded in fight while in others booth agents staged protests.
Issues on vote counting day
In Villupuram, intense clashes were witnessed in the Marakkanam booth from early morning leading to delay in beginning of vote-counting. The counting started at around 9.30 AM while it was supposed to begin at 8 AM.
According to the updates in ABP Nadu, issues between booth agents and police officials started in Marakkanam with the agents entering the polling booth by breaking the doors on Tuesday morning. After the chaos settled down, the counting started with a delay of a few hours.
In Tirusulam, booth agents boycotted the counting of votes by alleging that they were mistreated by not providing basic necessities. Following this, the police reached the polling booth and convinced the booth agents.
Also Read | Tamil Nadu: Alleged Chain Snatcher Killed In Police Encounter Near Chennai, Another Accused Held
Similarly, counting of votes started after two and a half hours in Sriperumbudur after polling agents resorted to protests alleging that they were not provided with food and other facilities.
The DMK and the AIADMK cadre indulged in a fight at Thanthoni of Karur district reportedly due to the ballot papers were not shown properly to the cadre. Meanwhile, the PMK cadre protested in Kanchipuram reportedly due to the party symbol was missing on the ballot papers.
Also, a controversial image of officials sleeping at the counting centre at Madurantakam of Chengalpattu district is doing rounds on social media.
(With inputs from ABP Nadu — It is a Tamil platform of ABP News. For more news, commentary and latest happenings from Tamil Nadu, follow https://tamil.abplive.com//amp)