TN polls: 42% voters turnout till 1 pm

Tamil Nadu polls: Over 18 % voters turnout in first two hours

Tamil Nadu recorded 42.1 % polling till 1 PM, Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni said here today.

"Chennai recorded 38 % voting till 1 PM, which is good and still there is time till evening," he said, adding, authorities expected a good turnout.

Meanwhile, officials said power supply, which had hampered voting, was restored in Royapuram and Harbour Assembly constituencies in Chennai.

"In Harbour constituency there was power cut for 10 minutes. Now it is fine, polling was not stopped," an official said.

Earlier, Lakhoni had said voting was hampered in some districts due to heavy rains and appropriate recommendations would be made on extending voting time in rain-affected areas.

Moderate to heavy rains in parts of Ramanathapuram, Madurai, Dindigul, Tiruchirappalli, Cuddalore, Thanjavur and Nagapattinam districts had hampered polling.

In Chennai, Pulianthope area was also affected.

Lakhoni had said the rains resulted in power cuts in some areas and some problems but the polling process would continue.

"A decision on extending voting time would be taken after considering the situation between 1 PM to 2 PM and if needed, appropriate recommendations would be made to the higher EC authorities," he had said.

Lakhoni had also said there were some glitches in Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail in 17 constituencies which were addressed.

Meanwhile, two groups clashed in a polling booth at Kamudi in Ramanathapuram district and an Electronic Voting Machine was pushed off a table during the spat, police said.

Police intervened and dispersed both groups. Polling resumed after half-an-hour break.

A report from Ariyalur district said a 38-year-old woman was struck dead by lightning when she was returning home after casting her vote in Pudukodi.

In Puducherry more than 30 % of the 9.41 lakh voters cast their franchise in till 11.30 am today. Voters turned up in large numbers at the booths despite rains in urban and rural areas.

Police were deployed in good strength in addition to personnel from Central Armed forces.

Last Updated Mar 31, 2018, 7:02 PM IST