Turnout dips 6.34% in 9 south districts on rain-swept day

The southern districts of Tamil Nadu witnessed one of the wettest polling days in recent times, resulting in a lower turnout than what was experienced in 2011.
Dindigul district recorded the highest poll turnout of 79.62%, still 2 percentage points lower than the previous assembly election. The lowest turnout was in Kanyakumari and Tuticorin districts, 66.32% each.While Virudhunagar recorded 76.36%, Tirunelveli registered 73.15% polling. The polling percentage in the other districts are: Madurai 70.38 %, Theni 73.13 %, Ramanathapuram 67.61% and Sivaganga 69.80 %. Overall, the nine southern districts polled 6.34% lower than the 2011 turnout. However, owing to a substantial increase in the number of voters in the past five years, the actual number of voters who turned up at polling booths is higher than 2011.
Many booths across the southern districts wore a deserted look in the morning hours when there was a heavy downpour. At Melamadai booth in Madurai, there was not a single voter for some time in the morning. As the day progressed, voters turned up at the booths with umbrellas, braving rain. In the evening, as rain stopped, there were long queues at polling booths in most districts.
At one polling booth in Tuticorin district voting continued even after 6 pm. "Rain was better than the afternoon heat. It was a pleasant experience to walk in the rain and vote,'' said K Ramanarayanan of Thondi in Ramanathapuram district.
It rained heavily in Theni, Dindigul, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Sivaganga and Virudhunagar also. There were stray incidents of EVM malfunctions in many southern segments, including Bodinaickanur where minister O Paneerselvam is contesting.