Tirunelveli: Re-polling in the 56th booth of Tenkasi constituency ended on a sluggish note with just 555 of the 972 votes recorded at the end of the day. Polling in this booth had to be held again after the Election Commission (EC) found discrepancies in the polling rate as more votes were registered in the electronic voting machine (EVM) than the number of voters who cast their franchise on May 16.
The polling booth is established in Ponnambalam middle school in Tenkasi, which has a total number of 486 male voters and an equal number of female votes, totalling 972. On My 16, records showed that 592 voters had exercised their franchise, but the EVM showed the total number as 644, with a discrepancy of 52 votes. Inquiries revealed that these 52 votes were polled when the machine was tested during pre-poll preparations and were not deleted. District election officials and poll observer for the constituency held discussions and it was decided to call for a re-poll on Wednesday.
The decision to conduct the re-poll was announced to the public on Tuesday evening through tom-toms and special security arrangements were made at the booth where the election was conducted again.
Polling started on a brisk note on Wednesday morning and fresh booth slips were issued to the voters. They were inked on their middle finger as their second finger had already been marked with during Monday's vote. Though voters turned out in good number during the morning, the numbers started to recede later on. When polling concluded at 6pm, only 555 voters had exercised their franchise with 270 men and 285 turning out for re-polling.
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