At the polling booth in Central Primary School in Walajah town in Ranipet, pedestal fans were set up for the voters who were waiting in the queue to cast their votes on Friday.
Election officials said that along with the support from local elected representatives and social activists, pedestal fans have been kept, especially along the queue to help voters —senior citizens and women— beat the extreme heat in the town. “We never expected fans in the polling booths. However, such arrangements helped us before we voted at the polling booth,” said K. Sowmiya, a voter.
Ranipet District Election Officer S. Valarmathi also inspected civic amenities in the district that comprises Arakkonam Lok Sabha constituency. On an average, each polling booth in the district had at least 50 plastic chairs under a shamiyana (tent) for voters to wait before they were allowed to cast their vote. Areas like Melvisharam, Arcot, Walajah, and Arakkonam were largely benefitted by the amenities provided in the polling booths.
In the Vellore Lok Sabha constituency, which also comprises Ambur and Vaniyambadi areas of Tirupattur district, voters were provided with purified drinking water facility and seating arrangements. In some arid areas like Pernambut, polling booths had coir mats for voters while they waited to cast their votes.
Each polling booth had one wheel chair and a volunteer to help persons with disabilities persons to cast their vote in these districts. Arani and Tiruvannamalai Lok Sabha constituencies also had similar civic amenities for voters.
In a novel way, Vellore District Election Officer V.R. Subbulaxmi distributed caps for first-time voters to encourage youngsters to exercise their democratic right. The caps were sent to other six Assembly constituencies that comes under Vellore Lok Sabha constituency to cover 32, 452 first-time voters in its limits, election officials said.
