Cochin, April 14: Voters in Kerala participated in the election to the 13th State Assembly enthusiastically by turning out at the polling booths in large numbers on Wednesday. The turnout was recorded as 74.6 per cent at the close of polling but Election Commission officials said that this might cross 75 per cent in the final analysis. The voter turnout in the 2006 Assembly election was 72.23 per cent.
The turnout witnessed during polling on Wednesday was the highest in the Assembly elections since 1991. It had touched 75.16 per cent in the local bodies election of October last. In the Lok Sabha election of the summer of 2009, the turnout was recorded as 73.33 per cent. In both these elections, the CPI(M)-led LDF had suffered serious setbacks. Kerala has a total of 140 Assembly seats.
Twelve of the total 14 districts in the State saw voter turnout above 70 per cent while in two of them it was above 80 per cent. Highest turnout among the districts was recorded in Kannur (80.4 per cent) and the lowest in Thiruvananthapuram (68.3 per cent). Kuttyadi in Kozhikode district was the constituency to see heaviest polling (87.3 per cent).
Top functionaries of the ruling LDF expressed confidence of retaining power while leaders of the Congress-led Opposition UDF said the people had voted for a change in rule. At the same time, leaders of the BJP, which was yet to “open account”, said that the party would become a “strong presence” in the Assembly with this election.
Both the main fronts claimed that the heavy voter turnout would prove helpful to them but pollsters said that no predictions could be made on the basis of turnout. They said heavy turnout only meant that the workers of all the parties had worked hard to bring as many voters as possible to the booths.
“The Congress has a habit of expecting victory whenever the turnout is heavy. This is wrong. The highest voter turnout recorded in Kerala after 1960 was in the 1987 election. The turnout then was 80.53 per cent and the LDF came to power with EK Nayanar leading the Government,” said a Kochi-based psephologist.
O Rajagopal, senior leader of the BJP, which had focused its attention on five of the 137 seats it contested, said the party would win enough seats to become a force in the Assembly. Polling in the whole State was by and large peaceful though some minor incidents of friction were reported from several areas. Some attempts at bogus-voting were also reported.
That the voter turnout was going to be heavy was clear in the first hour of polling itself as long queues were seen in polling booths across the State. Long queues were seen in several booths in key constituencies like Kannur, Thalassery, Malampuzha, Manjeswaram, Pala and Puthuppally at the start of the polling itself.
Visiting polling stations in his Malampuzha constituency in Palakkad district in the morning before leaving for Alappuzha to cast his vote, Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan, star campaigner of the LDF, said he was confident of the Left’s victory. He said he was happy to see long queues of voters at the booths.
After casting his vote in Thiruvananthapuram, Defence Minister AK Antony, the most effective Congress campaigner in this election, said that he was sure of a change of rule in the State. “I am sure that the UDF will come to power. Its first task will be to give a new vigour to development programmes which had got stunted during the Left rule,” he said.
Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, also a member of the CPI(M) Politbureau, said in his Thalassery constituency, “The LDF will score a three-digit victory in the Assembly (of 150 members).” According to State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala, the UDF was set to win more than 100 seats.
——-Agencies