Voters in Kerala will on Monday queue up at polling booths to elect their 140 representatives to the legislative Assembly in one of the toughest elections the State has seen in its entire history amidst worries about the possibility of heavy summer showers across the State which may seriously affect the voter turnout and thus hit the hopes of the participating parties.
The Congress-led ruling UDF which is fighting to continue in power, CPI(M)-led lDF which wants to capture power from the UDF and BJP-led NDA which dreams of becoming a formidable power in the State with this election said they were confident of victory in this election, which is witnessing a tough triangular fight in several seats.
The Election Commission informed on Sunday that it had completed all arrangements required for the smooth conduct of polling, which would start at 7.00 am on Monday and end at 6.00 pm. Voters who are in the queue at 6.00 pm will be allowed to cast their votes but those reaching the booths after that time will not get the chance to vote.
Over 1,50,000 polling staff, including more than 50,000 police personnel, have been deployed for the polling to be held in 21,498 booths using 35,946 electronic voting machines. The State this time has a total of 2,60,19,284 voters and 1,25,10,589 of them are men. The electorate is stronger by 28.71 lakh in comparison to the 2011 Assembly election.
As many as 3,142 polling booths have been identified as sensitive and 1,300 of them are considered as critically sensitive. Kannur district has the highest number — 1,054 — of sensitive booths. In the heaviest police deployment seen for any election held so far in Kerala, 50,000 police personnel have been deployed on duty, including 120 companies of Central forces.
A total of 1,203 candidates are in the fray in the 140 constituencies while there were only 971 candidates in the 2011 Assembly election. Counting of votes will be held at 80 centres on May 19. EC sources said that the entire results could be out by late afternoon Thursday. The entire election process is expected to be over by May 23.
Considering the crucial nature of the election, parties had deployed special squads to reach the maximum number of voters to the booths. Campaign managers of different parties said they had done everything they could to ensure high voter turnout but added that they were anxious about the possibility of heavy summer rains playing spoilsport.
According to weathermen, heavy summer showers, which had started last week, could continue till Wednesday. “Rains are a big threat. No party likes the idea of voter turnout at booths falling below a certain level. That would not be good,” said a CPI(M) campaign manager. The turnout in the 2011 Assembly election was 75.12 percent.
According to observers, voter turnout could fall drastically from the level of the last election if heavy rains occur across the State. Distribution of rains also can cause worries to particular parties, they said. For example, the left may not like heavy rains lashing northern and southern Kerala because they expect most of their seats to come from there, they pointed out.
“If heavy rains occur, it would affect the efforts to reach the elderly and physically weak voters to the booths. Such a situation could cause problems in constituencies where neck-and-neck contests are taking place,” said a top Congress functionary in Kochi. “However, all parties should have foreseen the possibility. They know what to do,” he added.