Chennai: Just before two covid-19 positive electors were set to arrive to vote in the Presidential election, many top officials quietly moved out of the voting hall in the Tamil Nadu Secretariat and waited in the outer corridor.
After all the voters from Tamil Nadu, MLAs and some MPs including Karti P Chidambaram had cast their votes, there was a lull in the voting hall and in the press enclosure.
When the hall became almost empty with officials moving out one after the other, it was conveyed to the journalists that they had stepped out to put on the special apron (Personal Protective Equipment) for Covid as two persons who are being treated for the infection were set to arrive to cast their votes.
The two were Minister for Milk and Dairy Development, S M Nasar and former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam. Minutes before the duo arrived, Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahu and an Observer, calmly moved out of the polling hall and waited in the outer corridor, near the Exit gate.
The Presiding Officer K Srinivasan (Legislative Assembly Secretary), authorised party representatives Kovi Chezhiyan (DMK), Vanathi Srinivasan (BJP) and polling officials were present wearing the PPE and Nasar and Panneerselvam voted wearing similar protective apron.
After the duo voted and moved out, the two officials returned to the hall. After Panneerselvam, who was the last person to vote, the polling process ended. The first person to cast his vote was Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin.
Erode Lok Sabha MP (MDMK, won on DMK symbol Rising Sun), A Ganeshamurthi, Nagapattinam MP, M Selvaraj (CPI) were the other MPs who voted here.
The voting exercise, between 10 am and 5 pm saw dull moments when there were no voters and the polling hall became live when key leaders including Edappadi K Palaniswami arrived to cast their votes.
All the 234 MLAs have cast their votes. DMK and its allies have supported former Union Minister and opposition candidate, Yashwant Sinha. The main opposition AIADMK has backed the NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu.
When Udhayanidhi Stalin dropped by, there was excitement among party men and he was briefed by DMK representatives on the Do's and Dont's of Presidential voting. Udhayanidhi, son of chief minister Stalin, is a first time MLA.
Briefly, there were also hilarious moments. When Srinivasan sat on his chair wearing the apron, photographers requested him to pose for a picture by standing close to the ballot box.
However, no one could understand the top official's answer, conveyed through gestures. Photographers finally concluded that the official has politely declined to entertain their request.
Officials could not apparently communicate effectively wearing the apron, heavy masks and the face shield. Only when the polling official announced that the voter was Nasar, reporters came to know that it was the Minister who has arrived. Otherwise, it is not possible to easily identify those wearing such PPE.
While the entrance and exit pathways to the voting hall were separate and specifically named and officials guided the electors, some were confused and walked out using the entrance pathway instead of the exit route. One or two voters had doubts on folding the ballot paper and on marking their choice and they got it clarified with officials and authorised representatives.
The press enclosure, inside the voting hall, was relatively small and photo journalists, journalists and camera persons had to 'quietly' jostle for space when top leaders arrived as silence had to be maintained.
The polling was held in the Legislature Committee Room in the Secretariat, close to the Assembly in the Fort St George campus here.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)