Erode East bypoll: 67.97 % turnout, 7% less than 2023

ERODE: The bypoll for Erode East assembly constituency recorded a voter turnout of 67.97 % on Wednesday, about 7% less than that in the byelection 2023.
Nevertheless, the turnout was considered high as the principal opposition party AIADMK as well as BJP had boycotted it, leaving the battlefield open to candidates of only DMK and NTK.
Polling began at a brisk pace as voters lined up at booths as early as 7 am. By 9 am, about 10 % of the votes were polled, which rose to 24 % by 11 am and 42 % by 1 pm. The polling ended with 1.44 lakh of 2.26 lakh voters casting their ballots, accounting for 64 %. Election officers described the process as "calm and smooth".
While DMK candidate V C Chandhirakumar was among the early voters at a polling station in Surampatti, his opponent, NTK's M K Seethalakshmi, lacked voting rights in the constituency as she lived in neighbouring Gobichettipalayam constituency.
Seethalakshmi, who was visiting polling booths one after the other, alleged that NTK booth agents were being threatened by DMK functionaries. NTK has decided to approach the Election Commission of India with the alleged malpractices.
District election officer Raja Gopal Sunkara ruled out the possibility of bogus voting. "The allegation that DMK men threatened NTK booth agents is also baseless because there are CCTV cameras in all polling stations," he said.
A 26-year-old voter named Farida Begam from Valaiyakara Veethi, however, was unable to exercise her franchise as her vote was found to be cast already. This led to a brief confrontation with officials. Sunkara said this would be probed. He said 14 EVMs experienced malfunctions but were set right in a few minutes.
Meanwhile, DMK candidate Chandhirakumar expressed confidence that he would win with a huge margin. An AIADMK functionary admitted that a section of their party cadres too voted despite the party's boycott decision.
"Voters perceived this byelection as a contest between the gounders and mudaliars since the DMK candidate is a mudaliar and NTK candidate was a gounder. So voters affiliated to parties that boycotted the election chose to vote on caste basis," he said.
Over 1,500 police personnel from Salem, Erode, Tirupur, and Coimbatore districts were deployed, alongside 600 paramilitary forces.
The seals of the strong room will be opened on Feb 8 in the presence of party agents for the vote counting process.