ULB polls: Counting of votes begins in Tamilnadu amid tight security
Counting of votes for the urban local body polls commenced at 8 am in all 268 counting centres covering 21 municipal corporations and adjacent municipalities.
With tight security in place, election department staff, counting agents, party poll agents and candidates thronged the counting centre from 6 am onwards, Tamil Nadu State Election Commission sources said.
Postal votes were counted first and counting of EVMs was followed within 15 to 20 minutes. Due to low polling the trend will be out within three hours of counting.
By evening, certificate of election and final results will be declared, sources said.
So far 15 cases of cash for votes have been registered and 1095 cases of poll code violation registered, sources added.
TNSEC also updates status of unopposed candidates as winners.
Journalists staged a protest at Madurai counting centres for not allowing the press inside the counting station.
Despite holding the duty pass issued by TNSEC, scribes were restricted access and asked to carry the ‘official’ statement.
The victory margins are likely to be narrow due to low polling and an eight cornered contest in several wards are likely.
DMK, AIADMK, BJP, Naam Thamizhar, PMK, Makkal Needhi Maiam, AMMK, DMDK and actor Vijay Makkal Iyakkam have fielded candidates.
Tamil Nadu urban local body elections were held on the 19th in a single phase. Elections were held for 21 corporations, 138 municipalities and 489 municipalities. A total of 57,746 candidates contested in the election, which was held in 12,601 wards with 1,369 wards in the municipal area, 3,824 wards in the municipal area and 7,408 wards in the municipal area.