Rain may dampen voter turnout in Vellore and nearby districts

Officials manage to transport election materials despite the downpour

Dark clouds with incessant rain since Monday night might dampen the turnout of voters in the 2, 617 polling booths across Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupattur districts for the first phase of the rural local body elections on Wednesday. The neighbouring Tiruvannamalai also holds the elections for 35 vacant posts.

Areas such as Gudiyatham, Katpadi, K.V. Kuppam and Pernambut in Vellore; Arcot, Walajah and Thimiri in Ranipet and Tirupattur town, Nattrampalli and Jolarpet in Tirupattur district witnessed continuous rain on Tuesday.

Despite the downpour, election officials managed to transport polling materials in 65 mini-lorries in these districts. As per norms, election materials should reach polling booths only a day before voting. “So far, no water stagnation has been reported in polling stations. However, if rain persists, then there may be water-logging in the second phase of polling (Saturday),” P. Bhaskaran Pandian, Collector, Ranipet, told The Hindu.

Most of the major areas that go to the polls in the first phase — Arcot, Walajah, Jolarpet, Gudiyatham and Katpadi — in these three districts are located along the dry Palar river. Many villages are on the low lying areas of the river. Most of the polling stations in these villages and hamlets are decades-old government schools where the first phase of polling will be held.

Rain data

Arakkonam and Kalavai in Ranipet received the highest rainfall with 66 mm and 50.2 mm followed by Walajah (23 mm) and Arcot (20 mm). In Vellore, Katpadi received (13.4 mm) and VCS Mill (10.4 mm). Tirupattur town and Natrampalli recorded 10.20 mm and 7.20 mm respectively.

As part of the poll preparation, face masks, hand sanitisers, thermal scanners, face shields, PPE kits have been despatched to the booths. CCTV cameras, ramps for persons with disabilities and drinking water have also been provided. Apart from over 15,000 government staff and teachers, more than 5,400 police personnel, including armed reserve, special police force and home guards, were roped in for election duties.

All the three districts have announced holidays for schools on October 5, 6, 8 and 9 as teachers have to do election work.

As many as 422 Tasmac outlets in these districts and Tiruvannamalai will remain shut from October 4 to 9 and also on October 12, the counting day. A total of 18,917 candidates are in the fray to contest for 7,251 posts in the elections.

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