Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Minorities swamp booths

By Our Tamil Nadu Bureau

Sattankulam Feb. 26. Byelections normally would be a grand showcase of voter apathy. But the exercise in the Sattankulam Assembly constituency today was strikingly different, as minorities turned up in significant numbers and swamped the booths.

Though polling figure at the end of the day was not remarkably high — only over 55 per cent — the impressive turnout of minorities sent out a strong message. With the byelection in the Christian dominated constituency coming within months after the ruling AIADMK enacting the anti-conversion law, the minorities, it appeared, chose to make a statement through the ballot.

Muslims and Christians assembled at several booths much before polling began. Indeed, Nazareth, heartland of Christian Nadars, was a rare spectacle of voter spirit. Long winding queues of voters swamped the main polling stations at the Margoschius Higher Secondary Schools at Nazareth, even 15 minutes before the exercise began.

The reason: "We don't want to allow bogus voting,'' said a woman voter, Regina, who lined up at the booth, at 7.50 a.m. But why this sudden surge of enthusiasm to prevent bogus voting? "We want to tell the Government that the anti-conversion law is wrong,'' chipped in Irudayaraj.

With Church leaders turning the byelection into a mini-referendum on the anti-conversion law, the turnout at most of the minority dominated booths recorded 10 per cent voting at the first hour of polling.

At the Azhagiyamanavalapuram booth in the Alwarthirunagari Union, with a considerable number of Muslim voters, the turnout was quite high in the early hours. Though the electronic voting machine was faulty, they waited for a while, to cast their ballot. Even in the Thevar-dominant Karungulam union, minority pockets came up with an enthusiastic response.

Besides, they maintained a hawkish watch to prevent bogus voting. That explains why the final figures in their pockets too was only a modest 60 per cent, said a police officer on duty.

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