CHENNAI: While counting of votes was largely a peaceful affair across the State, in Perambur Assembly bypoll alone, it was marred by a few tense moments. The counting of the votes for the bypoll was stopped twice over allegations of mix-up of EVMs and tag mismatches.
The counting, which was delayed by an hour, was steadily picking up with the DMK leading, when the counting agents at counter six raised an alarm that the ballot box got interchanged with the EVMs used for the Chennai North Lok Sabha constituency. The counting of votes polled in both Perambur Assembly constituency and Chennai North Lok Sabha constituency was conducted at the campus of Queen Mary's College.
The counting was disrupted around 10.55 am when AIADMK candidate Rajesh raised a concern over mixing up of three EVMs used in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. As a result, the counting at the centre was stopped immediately after the AIADMK cadre's protest. "If it is a technical glitch, we accept it, but if boxes get swapped, it is unacceptable," he said.
Meanwhile, top police officers, including Additional Commissioner of Police (North) R Dinakaran and Joint Commissioner of Police (North) Prem Anand Sinha tried to defuse the tension.
Later, talking to express, Dinakaran said the issue pertained to interchange of a single ballot box in counter six and not three EVMs as alleged by the AIADMK cadre which has resulted in stalling of counting.
As chaos continued, it was at 12.55 pm that City Police Commissioner A K Viswanathan and Corporation Commissioner G Prakash came to the scene as Rajesh demanded recounting.
After discussions were held, the two officials met the Returning Officer and later the issue was resolved with a promise that such issues would not happen again.
In the meantime, the fourth round results were out and as the fifth round was to begin, confusion broke out over the tag number not getting aligned with the serial number. As a result, the AIADMK cadre and party candidate Rajesh again flagged the issue and counting was held for nearly two hours.
The Returning Officer assured that they would ensure that both of them (serial and tag number) would be aligned. However, the AIADMK cadre refused to relent. As a result, there was a huge police build-up to ensure no untoward incident was reported.
Meanwhile, after the issued was resolved, Rajesh walked out in a huff and later, told reporters that issues "that we raised have been dismissed as minor. Only God is witness to what happened," he said.
He further claimed that the counting was more like a sudo-ko game. "I am not going to the High Court to raise the issue. We will continue to support the good governance of the ruling party," he added.
The counting resumed at 4.40 pm.