80 per cent polling in repoll in 2 TN stations

An average 80 per cent voting was registered today during the repolling held in one polling station each in Salem and Namakkal Lok Sabha constituencies.
According to election officials, about 76.8 per cent voters in Salem and 84.6 per cent in Tiruchengode in Namakkal constituency exercised their franchise in the repoll, which was rescheduled to today from May 8 following candidates' demand for 48 hours notice before polling.
The repolling was ordered due to some technical error in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the April 24 polling.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had criticised the Election Commission's "belated" decision, announced on May 6, terming it as "against the canons of propriety of the election process" as no protest or complaint was registered by any political party or anyone else in respect of both these polling stations.

State Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar had said the
repoll was necessitated after a 'factory mode' error was detected in the EVMs at the end of poll on April 24 and there was no other reason.

The start of the repolling in Salem booth was delayed by
about 20 minutes.
DMK candidate Uma Rani lodged a complaint with observer
Ajay Yadav stating that her AIADMK rival V Panneerselvam was allegedly present in the booth sporting a party flag coloured towel.