Voters keen despite Gaja misery in Thanjavur district

THANJAVUR: Polling was brisk and peaceful in Thanjavur Lok Sabha constituency and Thanjavur assembly constituency (by-election) in Thanjavur district on Thursday.

At the stroke of 7 am, long queues were seen almost in all polling booths in Thanjavur town. People voted for both Lok Sabha and Assembly seat in two enclosures kept in each booth in Thanjavur and adjoining villages which come under Thanjavur assembly constituency.

Many voters said that they saw their votes going to the candidates they chose in the VVPATs and said that they were satisfied. By 9.30 a.m.23 per cent was polled in Thanjavur. By 3 p.m. polling was 57.83 per cent in Thanjavur Lok Sabha constituency.

Unmindful of scorching sun, at Pillaiyarpatti village near Thanjavur long queues of both men and women were seen at the booth at a school at 11.30 a.m.  At Vallam near Thanjavur long queues were seen by 11 am.

There was some lull by noon at  Thirukattuppalli Sivasamy Iyer Higher secondary school and at Srinivasa Rao higher secondary school at Thiruvaiyaru. But polling picked up towards evening. Polling was brisk in the morning and forenoon and towards evening in the Gaja ravaged Mannargudi, Orathanadud, Pattukottai and Peravurani constituencies. Technical snags in machines held up the polling for a couple of hours in some booths like the ones at Veeraraghava school, Keelavasal, guild of service etc at Thanjavur. . At Kurichi street in Thanjavur, agents of political parties raised objections as votes polled were not recorded in the machine properly. Polling was stopped for two hours and resumed with new machines after the delay.

No untoward incident has been reported till evening. S.S. Palanimanickam, DMK candidate and N.R. Nadarajan, TMC candidate for Thanjavur Lok Sabha cast their votes at Srinivasapuram and Arulananda Nagar respectively in Thanjavur. P. Murugesan, AMMK candidate for Thanjavur Lok Sabha cast his vote at Thirumagal school booth in the town.

The percentage of polling was 65.97 per cent by 5 pm in Thanjavur Lok Sabha constituency. Mannargudi Assembly constituency recorded 67.3 per cent, Thiruvaiyaru 67.50 per cent, Thanjavur 61.39 per cent, Orathanadu 69.27 per cent, Pattukottai 62.42 per cent and Peravurani 68.86 per cent.The figures speak for themselves.

Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading.