VELLORE: Vellore Lok Sabha constituency, which went to polls Monday, recorded a robust 72.62 per cent voting despite low turnout in the initial hours of the day. Among the six Assembly segments here, KV Kuppam registered the highest turnout of 82.62 per cent, while Vellore, with just 67.05 per cent had the lowest.
Hours after the polling began, news of Centre scrapping Article 370 and 35A in Kashmir started to trickle in. Turnout in Muslim-dominated areas, such as Vaniyambadi and Ambur, picked up later in the day.
While the turn out was 16.32 per cent in Vaniyambadi and 31.48 per cent in Ambur till 1 pm, by 5 in the evening, it had soared to 73.22 per cent and 70.51 per cent respectively.
The opinion on how the policy change on Kashmir could have impacted Vellore voters is divided.“The issue is sure to have had an impact on voters,” says TS Mohammed Sayee, district organiser of DMK medical wing. “Voting gathered pace after the new trickled in, and people became aware of what has happened.
”There was a sharp spike in polling between 3 and 5 pm, when the turnout percentage increased from 52.32 to 62.94. A total of 1,553 polling booths had been set up in the segment.