Chennai: The result of the just concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly polls was a close fight between the ruling AIADMK and opposition DMK, but it could have been even narrower if government employees and gazetted officers voted properly.
This is because a whopping 23,886 postal votes were found invalid (rejected votes), out of the total 3.25 lakh postal votes polled, at the time of counting. A recent examination by Public (Election) department of the 3.99 lakh postal ballot papers issued revealed that several government staff had ailed to get the attestation required for postal votes. There were multiple entries in ballot paper.
Also incomplete ballot papers were found at the time of counting, an official said.
All rural districts recorded more invalid votes, when compared to urban areas. Tirunelveli and Cuddalore districts topped the list with 2092 and 1813 votes as invalid. Madurai district with 10 Assembly constituencies recorded 1221 invalid postal votes, followed by Tiruchy, Virudhunagar and Theni districts with 1182, 1063 and 1052 votes respectively. In urban districts like Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur, the invalid votes were less than 1000. Erode recorded 198 invalid votes, followed by The Nilgiris with 234 rejected votes.
Among constituencies, Chidambaram seat recorded a maximum of 777 invalid votes, followed by Palayamkottai with 555 rejected votes. In Dharmapuri, more than 400 votes of government staff were declared invalid.
“Eighteen constituencies across Tamil Nadu made the difference between victory and loss for the Dravidian majors and these votes if valid could have triggered a few results adding more photo finish,” a poll official said explaining there are at least 10 seats where the victory margin was less than 1000 votes. These invalid votes could have been crucial at Kattumannarkoil and Radhapuram where the victory margins were 49 and 87 votes, the sources added.
