The ebullient fight between the BJP-led NDA, the Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M)-led LDF for the 20 Lok Sabha seats from Kerala that went to the polls on Friday is continuing even after the polling concluded by 6pm on Friday.
As hundreds of voters had queued up in front of polling stations at 6 pm, polling officials issued tickets to all so that no one needed to return home without casting their votes. By 7 pm on Friday, the State had registered 70 per cent polling according to the Election Commission of India. The final figure is likely to cross the 77.8 per cent figure which was recorded in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll from the State.
Law enforcement agencies heaved a sigh of relief as the polling process was by and large peaceful and no major untoward incidents were reported from anywhere in the State. But there were allegations by the BJP and the opposition Congress party that thousands of voters cast their votes with the help of fake identity cards.
“There were many instances of expatriate workers from other States managing to cast their votes with the help of officials whose loyalty lied with the CPI(M),” said Adoor Prakash, Congress candidate from Attingal in southern Kerala. Seven persons reportedly died either after casting the votes or while waiting for their turn to vote.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who cast his vote with wife Kamala and scam tainted daughter Veena Mohammed Riyaz claimed that there was a CPI(M) wave across Kerala and the LDF would win in all the 20 constituencies.
He said that the good works done by the LDF to help the poor would be reflected when results are declared on 4 June.
Former Defence Minister and oldest surviving Congress leader A K Antony (84) cast his vote, most probably the last time in his life, at Thiruvananthapuram accompanied by wife Elizabeth and long-time friend M M Hassan. “This is our last chance to save secularism, socialism, pluralism and democracy in India. This time Narendra Modi would be voted out and a new government led by the Congress would come to power in the Center,” said Antony even as he cursed the BJP and its leaders. Antony’s son Anil is contesting as a BJP candidate from Pathanamthitta.
Both the CPI(M) and the Congress claimed that they would sweep all the 20 seats at stake from the State. The BJP camp too is confident of improving their vote share. In 2019, the Hindutva party had polled 13 per cent votes and the NDA front led by it had polled 15.64 per cent. The NDA front had drawn a blank in the score board having failed in winning at least one seat.
The Congress-led UDF had polled 47.48 per cent and the front won 19 seats leaving a lone seat to the CPIM). The BJP is yet to open its account in the State till date.
The fates of Sasi Tharoor, union ministers Rajiv Chandrasekhar and V Muraleedharan, senior parliamentarian N K Premachandran, former union minister Kodikkunnil Suresh, film actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi, the Romeo of Kerala’s Love Jihad Abdussamad Samadani, were among the candidates whose fates were sealed on Friday. Samadani’s name had figured prominently in author Kamala Das’ conversion to Islam.
Efforts to elicit information about which way the wind was blowing remained unclear as most of those who cast their votes were reluctant to disclose information about whom they voted for. “We are caught between the deep sea and the devil. The CPI(M) led government is enmeshed in corruption and scams. The Congress is no different as their tenures were scam tainted. There is severe anger towards these two fronts. But the voters do not have any third option because BJP in Kerala is inefficiency personified,” said senior Government Hospital Surgeon. He said people wanted a change but there are no competent leaders in State BJP and people are forced to wait for another day when an effective outfit emerges in the State’s political landscape.
