Repolling is underway at seven voting booths in four districts of Tamil Nadu following allegations of malpractices in urban local body elections, The Indian Express reported.
Elections to urban local bodies in Tamil Nadu were held on Saturday.
The State Election Commission had ordered repolling in one booth each in ward 51 and ward 179 of Chennai and ward 17 in Madurai. It had also ordered re-elections in two booths each in ward 16 of the Jayakondam municipality and ward 25 of the Tiruvannamalai municipality.
Voting began at 7 am and will go on till 6 pm. The last hour will be reserved for coronavirus patients.
The State Election Commission announced repolling after the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam accused the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam of engaging in violence on Saturday, according to PTI.
At Besant Nagar in Chennai, a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member allegedly damaged the voting machine and threatened the election officials.
Deputy Commissioner of Police P Mahendran said that two people have been arrested in connection with the matter, including Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam member Kathiravan, according to The Indian Express.
“Based on the complaints of the polling officers, Kathiravan and Selvam have been arrested, we are searching for the rest,” he said.
They have been booked under Indian Penal Code section 504 (intentional insult) and the Tamil Nadu Public Property [Prevention of Damage and Loss] Act.
Counting of votes for the urban local body elections will take place on Tuesday.
During the election on Saturday, the state recorded a turnout of 60.70%, The Hindu reported. Chennai registered the lowest figure of 43.59%.
Twenty-one cities, 138 municipalities and 490 town panchayats voted to elect more than 12,000 members. As many as 57,778 candidates are in the fray.
The civic elections were held in the state after a gap of over 10 years.
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