Voters in the queue at the closing time of 6 p.m. on the day of polling for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu will be given tokens by the presiding officer to enable them to vote, Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo has said.
Mr. Sahoo said polling will be held from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on April 18, adding that there need not be any concerns about delays in voting on account of the VVPAT (voter-verified paper audit trail) process. “There are about 67,000 polling booths in the State. About 1,400 voters can vote in each booth. On account of VVPAT, concerns have been raised about delays, but we can tell you that there are no chances of delays,” he said.
The CEO said experiments were carried out on the usage of VVPAT to ensure that there were no delays.
Regarding the I-T raid on the residence of DMK treasurer and Katpadi MLA Durai Murugan, Mr. Sahoo said that as per the preliminary reports submitted by the Collector, ₹10 lakh was seized. “The I-T Department carried out the raids. If they give us the full report, we would be in a position to give you further information,” he added.
Transfer of officials
When asked whether the DMK had filed a complaint that it was unable to carry out campaigning activities due to the raid over the last couple of days, the CEO said the party made a representation, which was forwarded to the District Electoral Officer and the I-T Department.
On the DMK’s demand for the transfer of a few officials, including the DGP, he said the matter was discussed with the Election Commission, and a decision would have to be taken by the poll watchdog.