EVMs despatched to booths in Salem

Salem: The administrations of Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and Erode districts dispatched electronic voting machines (EVMs) and poll materials to the polling booths with police and paramilitary force security on Monday.

The Salem district administration has set up 4,280 poll booths for 30.15 lakh voters to cast their votes. As many as 18,000 officials will be involved in election duty in the district. “They were given three rounds of training in connection with this,” said an official from the election department.

Donkeys were pressed into service to carry EVMs and poll materials to Kottur hills and Yeri hills in the Pennagaram assembly segment of Dharmapuri district.

As many as, 820 voters are there in both the booths. Kottur hills have 445 votes and the rest belong to Yeri hills.

Three donkeys were used to Kottur hills while two were used to Yeri hills. Kottur hills situated 3.5km distance from the foothills while Yeri hills is situated another 1.5km from Kottur hills.

In the Veppanahalli constituency in Krishnagiri district too, donkeys were used to carry EVMs and polling material to the remote Ekkalnatham village, where more than 300 voters are living.

In Bodhamalai in Namakkal district, the EVMs and polling materials were taken as head-load by the VAO assistants on Monday.TNN