First phase Kerala civic polls sees high voter turnout, records 75 per cent polling

The first phase of elections was conducted in compliance with the COVID guidelines in five Southern districts of Kerala. Alappuzha district led in the voter turnout percentage, while the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram recorded the lowest.

Thiruvananthapuram:A high voter turnout of 75 per cent has been recorded in the first phase of polling for the local body elections in five districts of Kerala on Tuesday.

The first phase of elections was conducted in compliance with the COVID guidelines in five Southern districts of Kerala.

Alappuzha district led in the voter turnout percentage, while the State capital of Thiruvananthapuram recorded the lowest. Though there were problems reported from Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram as the voting machines developed technical glitches, it was fixed and the polling resumed very quickly in both the places.

Though the State Election Commission maintained that the COVID time elections were carried out in all the five districts in strict compliance with the guidelines, the prescribed physical distance was not maintained in many places while the voters lined up in front of the booths.

Many booths also lacked the markings as envisaged by the Election Commission to maintain the physical distance. It was evaluated that the police forces which were deployed to ensure that the guidelines did not enforce the norms.

At the State Capital, Kadakampally Surendran was the first among political leaders to reach the polling booth to vote. Later, Kummanam Rajashekaran, Suresh Gopi MP, V Muralidharan, M.A. Baby, K Muralidharan, S.R. Ramachandran Pillai and many other prominent leaders reached their respective booths to vote.

Though the booths in Thiruvananthapuram remained busy and crowded compared to previous years in the morning time, most of the booths wore an empty look later in the afternoon. Meanwhile, in the coastal regions, the booths turned busy only in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, former Chief Ministers A K Antony and V S Achuthanandan did not turn up for voting owing to health reasons.

Chief Election Commissioner Tikka Ram Meena's name was absent in the voters' list.

Nasar, a native of Kattakkada, was held by the officers as he was caught attempting to mark a fake vote, at Palayam in Thiruvananthapuram. There were minor clashes reported between the workers of the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPIM) and the Congress in Kattakkada, Vizhinjam and Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram district.

During the first hour of polling, two persons who had reached to cast their votes had fainted and died at the polling booths in Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha.

Political debates and discussions are heating up in the State as the preparations for the second phase of polls are getting completed in the State.