2 voters die of cardiac arrest in polling booths in western districts

SALEM / ERODE: In two separate unfortunate developments, two elderly people collapsed and died of cardiac arrest in two different constituencies of Erode and Salem as polling began in the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday.

In Erode district, 66-year-old Murugesan of Sivagiri town panchayat area, accompanied by his family members, was stepping into the polling booth set up in the government boys higher secondary school there when he leaned against a pillar, fainted and collapsed before he could cast his vote.

Policemen on security duty at the booth tried to revive him but as Murugesan remained unconscious, an ambulance was summoned and the elderly voter was rushed to the Sivagiri government hospital where doctors declared the poor man as 'brought dead'.

Murugesan was running a tea shop near his house. As the news of the death of a voter in a polling booth spread, Sivagiri was gripped with grief.

It also evoked demands from the people to set up first aid centres in polling booths.

The death of the other voter happened in Omalur in Salem district. Another elderly voter, M Krishnan (78), of Vedapatti near Omalur, had after casting his vote at a polling booth near there, collapsed and died in the precincts of the polling station itself, probably in the wake of a heart attack.

Krishnan is a daily-wage worker and is survived by wife and three daughters.

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