Over 7,000 polling personnel cast votes in 9 constituencies

TRICHY: The centres for training polling personnel turned into polling booths at nine constituencies in Trichy district on Saturday. A total of 7,093 officials cast their votes through postal ballot in a special arrangement.
Srirangam constituency recorded the highest number of votes from the polling personnel with 1,121 votes, followed by Trichy West where 1,025 officials cast their votes.The election department made arrangements for officials to cast their postal vote at Srirangam Boys' Higher Secondary School for Srirangam and Bishop Heber Higher Secondary school for Trichy West, where they also underwent the second phase of training.
The number of voters in rest of the constituencies were Trichy East - 830, Mannachanallur - 483, Thiruverumbur - 612, Lalgudi - 628, Manapparai - 831, Musiri- 680 and Thuraiyur - 883.
Of the total 12,530 polling personnel drawn from various government departments in the district, 7,093 made use of the opportunity to register their votes, instead of sending them through posts. The rest of them will have to send their ballots through post.
The second phase of training was aimed at educating booth officers under five levels to carry out the voting process in their booths on May 16. A total of 215 zonal officers provided the training at schools in the constituencies. The first-level officers will be responsible for handling the marked copy of electoral roll while the second-level officer will take care of marking indelible ink on voters' nails. The rest of the officers will be entrusted with other responsibilities.
The officials participated in the training in two phases. At least 6,017 officials took part in the first phase between 10am to 1pm and another 6,513 officials participated in the second phase between 2 pm to 5 pm.