61 per cent polling in Tuticorin district

The first phase of polling held at 1,268 booths, spread over seven panchayat unions, 13 town panchayats, one municipality and one third-grade municipality in the district, was by and large peaceful.

Of the 6,79,257 electorate in the first phase, 61 percentage exercised their franchise, official sources said.

Section wise, 59.5 per cent polling was recorded in Tuticorin municipality, 69 per cent in town panchayats, 54 per cent at the third-grade municipality of Kayalpattinam and 60 per cent in panchayat unions.

The polling gained momentum only in the afternoon. Collector R. Palaniyandi and Election Observer Jatindra Nath Swain were on rounds from 7 a.m.

At around 10 a.m., it came to the notice of the election officials that a senior DMK functionary, who is an ex-MLA, was sitting inside a booth at Polnaickenpettai near the new bus stand.

The Collector instructed the police to send him out of the booth.

At Millerpuram, police chased away autorickshaws deployed by candidates to transport voters.

On complaints from AIADMK cadres of bogus voting in Ward 7 of Tiruchendur Town Panchayat, the Collector said "the matter would be looked into."