Coimbatore: 81-year-old man dies waiting in queue to vote

Coimbatore: A retired government employee K. Balakrishnan, (81), collapsed while waiting in the queue to cast his vote at the Gandhi Managar Vincent School polling booth here on Thursday.  

According to an eye witness, he collapsed and was rushed to a near-by hospital where he was declared dead.

Meanwhile Mahendran, the founder of a non-profit organisation 'Eera Nenjam' that shelters senior citizens disowned by their respective families ensured that as many as 59 inmates of the home exercised their franchise.

The inmates were transported to a polling station in R S Puram and were helped by volunteers at the booth to cast their vote. For a majority of them it was after many years that they participated in an election process.

For V. Nanammal, better known as the yoga grandma, her day began by visiting the polling booth in Saravanampatti. "My 100-year-old mother cast her vote as she considers it her duty to do so after which she ate breakfast at home," Balkrishan, one of the son's told DC.

Palladam, Sulur, Coimbatore north, Coimbatore south, Kaundapalayam and Singanallur fall under the Coimbatore parliamentary constituency. Of them Coimbatore North has the maximum number of polling stations declared vulnerable. As many as 110 fall under that category. Meanwhile, just 27 polling stations declared vulnerable, Sulur is the constituency with least number of vulnerable polling booths.  

A total number of 19,31,558 voters including 9,65,120 males, 9,66,239 females and 199 from the transgender community are on the electoral roll in the Coimbatore parliamentary constituency.

Keep yourself updated on Lok Sabha Elections 2019 with our round-the-clock coverage -- breaking news, updates, analyses etc all. Happy reading.