Coimbatore : Four persons, including an 85-year-old woman, collapsed and died either standing in the queue or after casting their franchise for the 17th Lok Sabha elections in the region.
   
The 85-year-old woman, Ayyammal, who was standing in the queue in a booth in Eachanari in the city, suddenly collapsed and died on the spot. The body was removed to the Government hosital here..
     
Balakrishnan, 65, a retired postal employee swooned after coming out of the booth at Gandhimanagar in the city and was declared dead on the way to hospital, police said.
    
A Murugesan, in his mid sixties collapsed and breathed his last at a polling booth in Sivagiri in Erode, while Krishnan died after casting his vote in Vedapatti in salem District.
    
Meanwhile, nearly 60 persons, including 55 women, in an old age home, exercised their franchise in R S Puram in the city.
    
The helpless senior citizens were abandoned by their families and.looked after by Eera Nenjam Trust and a majority of them do not  remember when they cast their votes last.
   
The Trust took the initiative for the persons aged between 65 to 90 years, some without valid ID, were taken by wheel chairs to the booth and became 'early birds' to cast their votes..
   
Two youths protested in Podanur booth in the city, since their votes.were already recorded by some others.    

Rajesh and Venkatesh, who came to cast their votes in their booths, were shell shocked to find that their votes had  already been recorded, following which they created a scene.
   
After hearing them the district colloector, K Rajamani allowed them to cast their votes and the additional two votes will be calculated in the final tally, official sources said.