A total of 10 booths from Tamil Nadu have been recommended by TN Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sathabrata Sahoo for re-polling in the state.
The ten booths include eight in Dharmapuri Parliamentary/Pappireddi Assembly constituency, and one each from Cuddalore Parliamentary/Panrutti Assembly and Tiruvallur Parliamentary/Poonamallee Assembly constituencies. Both Parliamentary elections and bye-polls will be conducted once again in these polling booths.
The list of eight booths in Pappireddi includes those that were allegedly captured by members of the PMK. Polling booths 181 and 182 from Ayyampatti; 192, 193, 194 and 195 in Nathamedu; and 196 and 197 from Jallipudur; will undergo repolling. Two other booths which were allegedly captured by PMK cadres – number 186, 187 in Kethureddypatti panchayat – however have not been recommended for re-election.
The recommendation comes following complaints made by DMK candidate S Senthilkumar from Dharmapuri, a constituency dubbed to be a PMK bastion. Reports and videos of PMK functionaries capturing polling booths in Dharmapuri constituency went viral on social media on the day of elections prompting action from EC.
In his petition, the DMK candidate pointed out that the party suspected that such an issue would arise during polling following PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss's speech on April 5. The former Union Minister allegedly insinuated during a campaign meeting at Thiruporur that his party members would capture booths in the constituency. Anbumani had said, “What will happen in Polling booth; We will only be in the booth; Then what...Should I say it openly? Have you understood?”
According to the petition, "Multiple votes were cast by a single person with the help of officials at the insistence of PMK booth agents; non-PMK voters were not allowed to cast their votes; PMK booth agents totally captured the booths; CCTV cameras were not covering the polling; and unidentified persons belonging to PMK were allowed to cast multiple votes without any verification as to their valid IDs."
As for the Kanyakumari Constituency where several had complained that their names were deleted from electoral lists, Satyabrata Sahoo said in a press meet, “A lot of them had complained that their names were delated. We are yet to receive the report from Kanyakumari Collector and Sub Collector. Based on it decision for re polling in Kanyakumari will be made.”