E-Paper
Tamil Nadu registers 69% voter turnout in peaceful polling
Tamil Nadu recorded a voter turnout of 68.96% in the Lok Sabha elections on Friday after the entire 39 Lok Sabha seats completed voting in a single phase to decide the fate of 950 candidates
Tamil Nadu recorded a voter turnout of 68.96% in the Lok Sabha elections on Friday after the entire 39 Lok Sabha seats completed voting in a single phase to decide the fate of 950 candidates. Along with the parliamentary election, the by-election to Vilavankode assembly saw a 65.54% turn out.
The polling percentage in Tamil Nadu in the past three general elections in 2009, 2014 and 2019 have been 73.02%, 73.74% and 72.47% respectively. Chennai with three Lok Sabha constituencies usually sees a low voter turnout. In 2019, the capital city recorded the lowest at 60%, lesser than the state average of 72%. Namakkal seat reported the highest turnout last general election.
Till 7pm, the highest voter turnout was in Kallakurichi with 75.67% followed by Dharmapuri at 75.44%. The lowest voter turnout was in Chennai Central and Chennai South with 67.35% and 67.82%. Prominent constituencies such as Coimbatore saw 71.17%, Thoothukudi- 70.93%, Kanyakumari- 70.15%.
Actors such as Rajinikanth and Ajith were among the early morning voters in the Chennai Central and Chennai South constituencies respectively. Actor Vijay who has launched a political party this year —Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam — to contest in Tamil Nadu’s 2026 assembly elections was followed by fans from his home to the polling booth in Chennai South. People with disabilities had mixed experiences with some having cast their votes independently. They found ramps and other facilities convenient while a few others had to be carried and could not reach the EVMs.
The DMK-led INDIA alliance with a rainbow coalition of Congress, Left parties, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK which has a sizeable Dalit votebank) and other small parties which it has maintained since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections had swept the previous parliamentary election winning 38 seats. They lost the one seat to AIADMK which was then in alliance with the BJP. The split between the two parties last September has made it a three cornered battle in several constituencies. The Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) led by Tamil nationalist S Seeman, which emerged as the third largest party in the 2021 assembly elections behind DMK and AIADMK with a close to 7% vote share, has also put up a fight with 50% of its candidates being women.
The DMK hopes to repeat its performance and most opinion polls have backed the coalition. “The INDIA bloc will definitely secure a victory,” chief minister and DMK president MK Stalin told reporters after casting his vote in Chennai. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai who contested from Coimbatore alleged that names of around one lakh electors were missing from voters list. “This is a sad thing,” Annamalai said. “In just one polling booth, 830 people’s names have been deleted. What is the logic that voter names have been deleted in such mass numbers? There has to be re-polling. What is the Election Commission doing?...It also raises doubts if there is political interference,” he added. The BJP has stitched up a third front with Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK, a vanniyar caste based party), Tamil Maanila Congress and other small parties. Leader of opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami was one of the first leaders to vote on Friday morning and urged first time voters to exercise their voting right after he cast his in his native in Salem. AIADMK lost most of its allies to the BJP, with only the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) staying with them.
Polling was largely peaceful barring an incident in Ariyalur district where members of the BJP and VCK, an ally of the DMK clashed and polling was halted for less than an hour. There were incidents of malfunctioning EVMs and missing names from voters list being reported in some constituencies. A few villages in districts such as Cuddalore, Kancheepuram and Tirunelveli boycotted the elections to express their anger against the DMK-ruled state government. “There were complaints about EVM malfunctioning in four or five places including Porur, Dharmapuri, and Trichy,” Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo told reporters at the state secretariat. “There was a delay of 15 to 20 minutes. But, it’s rectified and polling was smooth everywhere. There is a zonal group of election officials including engineers for every 10 polling booths.”
In neighbouring Puducherry, the lone Lok Sabha seat, where the contest is between BJP’s A Namassivayam and incumbent Congress lawmaker V Vaithilingam, recorded 77.86% polling, poll authorities in the Union territory said.
