Chennai logs lowest voting

Chennai, May 16  Chennai, despite a pleasant climate and a government holiday, will perhaps rank lowest in voter turnout in the 2016 Tamil Nadu assembly elections on Monday, said polls officials.

The city that was battered by floods last December was expected to come out and vote in large numbers, but at 5 p.m. - an hour before close of polls, the polling percentage in the state capital was just 57 percent.

Though the polling booths in the city witnessed brisk voting in the morning, the tempo slackened after that.

"It seems Chennai will be the lowest in terms of polling percentage," chief electoral officier Rajesh Lakhoni told reporters.

Incidentally, the state's other flood-hit districts like Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur and Cuddalore recorded much higher percentage of polling at 72, 68 and 74 percent at 5 p.m.

Lakhoni said voting was high in the rural areas whereas in cities, the polling percentage was relatively low.