Story perspectives

Vote Counting Set for Madurantakam, Dharapuram By-Polls Friday

By Drooid · Oct 9, 2026, 4:51 AM UTC · How we work

Summary

Election Commission Counts

India’s Election Commission will count votes in Madurantakam and Dharapuram on Friday, October 9.
Security included 2,614 state police and 480 CAPF personnel at Madurantakam and 1,000 police at Dharapuram.
Madurantakam recorded 86.26 % voter turnout and Dharapuram recorded 80.30 % turnout.
Turnout fell about 7 % in Madurantakam and 9.5 % in Dharapuram compared with the April election.
Standby engineers cleared minor technical glitches at a few booths, allowing polling to proceed peacefully.

Summary

Election officials Distribute

Election officials delivered voter information slips to 2,21,365 voters, covering 99.13% of the electorate.
Among 1,236 senior or disabled applicants, 1,201 cast postal ballots.
Eighteen vulnerable polling stations in nine locations received live CCTV monitoring and extra CISF personnel.
A total of 1,536 polling personnel were deployed for the by-poll.
Two-tier armed security and round-the-clock CCTV guarded the strong room storing EVMs and VVPATs.

History

Historical Context

India’s shift to electronic voting began in the late 1990s, and by the 2004 general election the Election Commission of India deployed EVMs nationwide, later adding voter-verified paper audit trails after the Supreme Court’s 2013 directive. The current Madurantakam and Dharapuram by-polls follow that framework, with over 400 million voters having used EVMs in 2009, prompting tight security and staff deployment.

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Election Commission Counts

India’s Election Commission will count votes in Madurantakam and Dharapuram on Friday, October 9.
Security included 2,614 state police and 480 CAPF personnel at Madurantakam and 1,000 police at Dharapuram.
Madurantakam recorded 86.26 % voter turnout and Dharapuram recorded 80.30 % turnout.
Turnout fell about 7 % in Madurantakam and 9.5 % in Dharapuram compared with the April election.
Standby engineers cleared minor technical glitches at a few booths, allowing polling to proceed peacefully.

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