Over 10,000 Keralites Arrive From Gulf Nations To Vote In Lok Sabha Polls

With Kerala going to polls in a single phase on April 26, over 10,000 residents of the state working in Gulf countries have arrived in the last fortnight to cast their vote.

Thiruvananthapuram:Over 10,000 Kerala people working in the Gulf nations have arrived in state over the last two weeks, some of them by chartered flights, to cast their votes in the Lok Sabha elections that will be held on April 26.

According to Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader Abdurhiman Randathani, the party's expatriate charity and volunteer organisation for Muslims, KMCC, worked hard to motivate the Malayalees working in Arab countries to come to Kerala and vote ever since the elections were announced. The Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) has a wide network in the Arab nations, he added.

With the help of the KMCC, the expatriates negotiated with airlines for low cost fares and chartered flights to come to Kerala in large numbers, he said. "Over 10,000 Keralites have arrived in the state in the past two weeks. More are expected to arrive on April 25," Randathani told PTI. "However, there is nothing new about it. This happened during the last Lok Sabha polls also," he added.

Meanwhile, as curtains fell on Wednesday marking the conclusion of the over-month-long, high-octane public campaigning for the April 26 Lok Sabha polls, Kerala bore witness to a series of extraordinary scenes and unprecedented campaign manoeuvres orchestrated by candidates and party workers on the final day.

Some candidates, in a bid to connect with voters on a personal level, climbed atop towering cranes to address the crowd of party supporters who gathered in hundreds. Others opted for a more traditional yet equally eye-catching approach, leading massive rallies while adorned in resplendent attire.

A total of 194 candidates are vying for the 20 seats in the state, making the April 26 Lok Sabha polls a crucial battleground for the LDF, the UDF, and the NDA. The BJP leadership exuded confidence that the party would not only open its account in the state during the LS polls but also win two digit seats. (With Agency inputs)

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