In one of the most peaceful polling processes Kerala has so far seen, nearly 72 per cent of voters in the Vengara Assembly constituency on Wednesday exercised their franchise in the by-election necessitated by the resignation of sitting member former Industries minister PK Kunhalikutty, who was elected as MP from Malappuram constituency in the by-poll held on April 12 after that seat fell vacant following the death of former Union Minister E Ahamed.
The reported voter turnout of 71.93 percent is a record in Vengara. The voter turnout was reported as 70 percent at the close of polling at 6.00 PM but officials had said it would go up when the final figures were available. Pleasant weather and faultless polling arrangements ensured a smooth polling process, they said.
The constituency had recorded a voter turnout of 70.77 percent in the 2016 Assembly election and 68.97 per cent in 2011. This was the fourth time the voters of Vengara had marched to the booths in the past three years. Despite that, the people of Vengara have responded to the by-election enthusiastically, it seems, said observers.
No untoward incidents were reported during polling from any of the six panchayats that constituted the Muslim-majority Vengara constituency in Muslim-majority Malappuram district. Polling was held under tight security provided by nearly a thousand personnel from the State and Central police forces. Counting of votes will be held on October 15. leaders of the Muslim league, which had bagged the seat for the Congress-led UDF in the two elections since the constituency’s formation in 2011, said the announcement by the lDF Government of probes and cases against former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and others in the solar scam when the polling was underway, would not affect its by-poll prospects. “I have no doubts about my prospects. Vengara belongs to the Muslim league,” its candidate KNA Khader said while lDF’s CPI(M) candidate said there would be a change this time. “The political developments in the State are sure to have an impact on Vengara. A wind of change has been there since the by-election was announced,” he said. BJP leader K Janachandran, the NDA candidate in Vengara, said he felt quite confident that the voters would respond positively to the party’s campaign anchored on the development initiatives of the Narendra Modi Government.
“We were working on the basis of the agenda of development as opposed to the agenda of hate,” he said.
Equally confident was PK Nazeer, candidate of the SDPI, political arm of Islamist Popular Front of India. The BJP and SDPI are fighting for the third position in Vengara. While the SDPI claimed the third position in the 2011 Assembly election, the BJP snatched that place from it in the 2016 polls. Two Independent candidates are also in the fray for the by-poll.
Almost all national and State issues including demonetization, GST, the lDF’s alleged administrative failures, corruption of leftist Ministers, love Jehad and recruitment of youths into Islamic State were discussed in Vengara despite the fact that the outcome of the by-poll is not going to have any serious impact on Kerala’s politics or administration.