By Shafeeq Alingal, TwoCircles.net
Thiruvananthapuram: A voter turnout of 48% was recorded around Monday afternoon in the first phase of the Kerala local body polls.
The crucial polls, seen as the semi-finals before the next year’s Assembly polls, saw both the Congress-led UDF and LDF, spearheaded by CPI-M going all out to woo voters.
Two boys watch while their mothers stand in a queue to cast their votes at one of the polling booths in Manjeswaram, Kasargod district, Kerala
Polling began at 7 am in Kollam, Idukki, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kasaragod, Kannur and Thiruvananthapuram with over one crore voters eligible to exercise their franchise by 5 PM.
KPCC President V M Sudheeran, while speaking to reporters after casting his vote at a booth in Thiruvananthapuram district, expressed confidence of the front’s good performance.
BJP’s move to break the bipolar polity in the state with the support of Ezhava outfit Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) also gives an added significance to the civic polls.
Former Union ministers Mullappally Ramachandran, O Rajagopal, Kodikunnil Suresh and state health minister V S Sivakumar were among the early voters.
In the first phase, a total of 31,161 candidates, including 582 in district panchayats, 2,844 in block panchayats, 22,788 in village panchayats, 1,315 in corporations and 3,632 in municipalities are seeking their poll prospects..
Brisk polling was being reported from Kannur, followed by Kozhikode, Kasaragod and Kollam, while low voter turnout in Thiruvananthapuram and Wayanad districts.
Voters queued up in large numbers despite heavy rains in many parts of north Kerala.
Voting was disrupted in about 11 polling booths in various parts of the state due to the malfunctioning of the voting machin. Meanwhile, a man, waiting in the queue to cast his franchise in Kasaragod district, collapsed and died on way to hospital, police said. The polls in the remaining seven districts – Alappuzha, Thrissur, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Malappuram and Palakkad – will be held in the second phase on November 5.
The counting will be held on November 7.