A polling booth in Tamil Nadu stands out with just 5 voters

When Tamil Nadu votes in the Assembly election on April 23, one polling booth atop a hill in the southern part will stand out.

A polling booth will be established at Vellimalai in Varusanadu in  Theni district to help just five voters exercise their franchise.

Polling officials would have to travel three hours through a difficult terrain to reach the booth, which found a mention at the media conference addressed on Sunday in New Delhi (March 15, 2026) by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to announce the Assembly election schedule.

Model Code kicks in

Consequent to the announcement of the election schedule, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force in Tamil Nadu in the evening, Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik said. It would be applicable to all candidates, political parties, and the State and Union governments, she said.

The MCC would be in force for more than a month-and-a-half.

According to an official release from the Election Commission, District Election Officers (DEOs) have been directed to obtain information on unusual and suspicious withdrawal or deposit of cash exceeding ₹1 lakh at banks for due verification, followed by necessary action.

Cash transaction reports

“If the amount is more than ₹10 lakh, DEOs shall pass on such information to the Income Tax Department for necessary action. FIU-IND [Financial Intelligence Unit-India] has been requested to share Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs) and Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) with CBDT [the Central Board of Direct Taxes] for effective monitoring of the election expenditure of the candidates,” the release said.

The term of the 16th Tamil Nadu Assembly will end on May 10. As on March 15, the total number of electors in the State is 5,67,74,436, including 5,67,07,380 general electors and 67,056 service voters. Over 12.51 lakh of them are in the 18-19 age group, and there are 2,530 centenarian electors. About 3.99 lakh of them are aged 85 or older and over 1.05 crore of them are aged 20-29.

75,032 polling booths

There are 75,032 polling booths, including 44,065 in rural areas and 30,967 in urban areas. The average number of electors per booth is 756. Of the total number of booths, 265 have been marked as model booths, and 258 would be managed by women. Webcasting would be arranged at all the booths.

Of the 234 Assembly constituencies, 44 are reserved for candidates of the Scheduled Castes and two are reserved for candidates of the Scheduled Tribes.