CHENNAI: Empty roads, brisk biriyani sales, crowded juice stalls where youngsters boasted their inked fingers, cab drivers fleecing passengers – this was Chennai on April 23, when the city went to vote.As voting commenced, the characteristic hustle and bustle that defines the city disappeared. Public transport moved with lighter loads, cinema theatres opened only in the evening, shop shutters remained half-closed, traffic on arterial roads, including NSC Bose Road, Anna Salai, T Nagar was sparse as people made their way to nearby polling stations.“It’s always like this on election days,” said Rajesh, a vegetable vendor in Mylapore, with fewer customers than on regular mornings. “People are either at the booths or staying indoors. Business doesn’t pick up until evening.”Biriyani stands and street vendors, on the other hand, saw an unexpected surge. “The sale today was much higher than that of normal weekdays,” said Ezhilarasi, who runs a biriyani stall in R K Nagar. “People come after voting. Some orders were pre-booked.”“We’ve never seen such brisk afternoon sales on an election day before,” said a restaurant manager on NSC Bose Road. “Families seem to be celebrating their civic duty with a meal out.”As the evening descended and polling booths began shutting down, the city’s commercial landscape transformed dramatically. Shopping malls across Chennai witnessed an unexpected surge in footfall. “We had delayed opening of malls to help the staff cast their vote. But most of them were open by noon,” said Aslam Packeer Mohamed, managing director, Marina Mall.Meanwhile, Tirupur Subramaniam from the Tamil Nadu Theatres Association said that film shows were allowed to commence only after 6pm, when polling ended.
