77,445 senior citizens, 50,676 differently-abled persons seek postal ballot papers
The Election Commission of India has identified 181 polling stations in 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu as “critical”, ahead of the April 19 poll. It has also identified 8,050 polling booths across all 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State as “vulnerable”.
Dindigul constituency has 39 critical polling stations, the highest in the State, followed by Chennai North (18) and Arakkonam (15). Salem and Villupuram have 14 each, followed by Tirunelveli (13) and Cuddalore (11).
Other constituencies with critical booths are: Dharmapuri and Tenkasi have nine each, Karur (eight), Chidambaram (seven), Tiruvallur (five), Kallakurichi and Ramanathapuram have four each, Arani (three), Sivaganga and Thoothukudi have two each, Krishnagiri, Madurai, Perambalur, Tiruvannamalai have one each.
A polling booth is identified as critical based on a list of criteria, including whether the polling was more than 90% and if 75% of them favoured one candidate in the last election, whether it recorded less than 10% polling or whether any violence leading to registering of an FIR was recorded in the last five years, etc.
If a polling station is identified as critical, the Commission would ensure enhanced security measures such as deployment of sufficient Central armed police force personnel or provide additional civil measures such as webcasting, among others.
Webcasting shall be done in all critical polling stations or at least in 50% of total polling stations, including auxiliary polling stations, whichever was higher. “Critical events in and around the polling stations shall also be videographed,” according to the Commission.
Vulnerable polling stations
As for vulnerable polling stations, Madurai (511) has the highest in the State followed by Chennai South (456) and Theni (381). The number of vulnerable polling stations in other constituencies are: Kancheepuram (371), Sriperumbudur (337), Tirunelveli (331), Virudhunagar (314), Dharmapuri (311), Tiruppur (293).
Thoothukkudi (286), Ramanathapuram (262), Arakkonam (258), Chennai North (254), Vellore (246), Coimbatore (224), Krishnagiri (208), Kanniyakumari (199), Chennai Central (192), Chidambaram (192), the Nilgiris (179), Erode (172), Tiruvallur (170), Tiruvannamalai (166), Sivaganga (145), Namakkal (143), Pollachi (140), Dindigul (137), Salem (130), Tenkasi (124), Cuddalore (119), Arani (108), Nagapattinam (104), Kallakurichi (101), Karur (92), Thanjavur (92), Mayiladuthurai (87), Tiruchi (84), Villupuram (76) and Perambalur (55).
Postal ballot papers
As of March 26, a total of 77,445 senior citizens across Tamil Nadu, who are either 85 years of age or older have submitted their Form-12 D seeking postal ballots.
Though a total of 6,08,952 of them are in the electoral rolls and are eligible to get postal ballots, the forms were issued to 4,30,734. Of them, only 77,445 have submitted their forms.
Kancheepuram (8,261), Kanniyakumari (4,184) and Chennai (4,117) are among the constituencies that received such forms from senior citizens. A total of 50,676 persons with disability have submitted forms seeking postal ballots across Tamil Nadu.
