Chennai: RK Nagar assembly constituency that made headlines till last Sunday breathed easy on Wednesday with the last batch of party cadres who had descended from various parts of the state to support the ruling AIADMK and the opposition DMK left north Chennai. Hotels and lodges in north Chennai that enjoyed over 90 per cent of occupancy till last Sunday were deserted on Wednesday morning.

The high profile Assembly seat represented by former chief minister Jayalalithaa also saw decrease in traffic flow and the temporarily opened election offices at all the eight wards of RK Nagar were seen closed sparing a few main party offices located on Thiruvottiyur high road at Tondiarpet. “We have five hotels with more than 240 rooms in Periamet. Last Sunday, all our hotel rooms were booked with kitchen working overtime. The occupancy rate has now fallen by over 50 per cent in our chain of hotels,” admitted a hotel manager on Cudappah Rangiah Street in Periamet.

Some of the guests stayed back on Tuesday as the AIADMK party members had a meeting, whereas the DMK functionaries and cadres vacated the next day (Monday) after the polls were cancelled, he added. “As per the earlier notification of election commission, RK Nagar with its 256 polling booths was scheduled to go for polling, but the cancellation of polls was the last straw and the fervour which receded on Monday was almost over by Wednesday”, said auto driver J Rajkumar, who used to ferry the party workers to and fro from lodges on Wall Tax road and Chennai Central.

Seizure action by the income tax authorities has resulted in unraveling a huge and systematic design to distribute money to induce voters. This should not be left like this. This had to be probed and action should be taken so that there is no replica of the RK Nagar module or Thirumangalam formula in the future, said K. Thirugnanam, a north Chennai AIADMK polling agent who worked for AIADMK rebel candidate E. Madhusudhanan.