“It was the major electoral exercise that happened in Tamil Nadu since the pandemic induced lockdown came into force a year ago. There were constraints, but within that, we did the best that could be done,” the senior officer from the State police headquarters told DT Next.

Officers heaved a sigh of relief as the voting was completed without any major incident. “There were a few minor incidents. However, there were no major law and order problems,” noted the officer.

The State police had deployed 1.58 lakh personnel, including other security personnel, on the polling day throughout the State. “As there were more than 22,000 additional booths, more manpower was deployed for security duty,” said an officer.

“At each polling station, we had deployed the local police as well as the striking force. We had also requested the candidates to follow the ECI norms while entering polling stations. Only the vehicles that carried passes issued by the Election Commission were allowed inside the polling stations. The candidates were asked not to enter the booth in groups to cast vote,” said another officer.

City police Commissioner Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, who voted at Triplicane along with his family members, later visited polling stations at Kilpauk, Royapettah, Mylapore and Raja Annamanalai Puram and reviewed the security measures by respective police stations for the smooth conduct of polling.

Speaking to the media, the Commissioner said that the city witnessed incident-free polling and added that even in those polling stations identified as critical, people peacefully exercised their franchise.