Kochi: ‘Kottikalasham’, the final hurrah signaling the end of poll campaigning, was more or less peaceful in the district on Saturday. However, violence was reported from Angamaly where supporters of LDF and the Congress pelted stones at each other, injuring over 20 people.
It all started when the activists of rival fronts shouted provocative slogans against each other. Cops had to resort to lathicharge to bring the situation under control as several vehicles, including KSRTC buses, were damaged. While drum beats and sloganeering marked the event at most of the 14 constituencies, CPM candidate for Ernakulam Adv. M. Anil Kumar surprised many by staging a silent sit-in protest before the Collector’s camp office.
Kerala poll infographic
He later said the constituency witnessed maximum police atrocities in recent times and the protest was a symbolic one. However party leaders were slightly angered by the candidate’s last minute change of plan as originally the ‘kottikalasham’ was scheduled to end at Menaka junction. Meanwhile, district election officer M.G. Rajamanickam said all arrangements are in place for the election.
Polling will be held between 7 am and 6 pm across 2,054 booths. All voters in the queue at 6 pm will be allowed to vote through a token system. The number of candidates in the fray has increased from 107 in the last election to 124. The district has 24,71,515 voters with 12,09,314 men and 12,62,200 women. Mr Rajamanickam said a total of 2,695 EVMs will be used in the district. The Election Commission has recognised photo-affixed voter’s slip as an ID proof for voting.
However, complaints have received about their potential misuse since photos on the slips are not clear in some cases. It will be the discretion of presiding officers to take a call on their acceptance.
Meanwhile, City Police Commissioner M.P. Dinesh said a total of 39 group patrol teams covering 670 polling booths in 346 buildings within the city police limits will be deployed on Sunday. Over 5,000 central and paramilitary forces have been deployed across the district. Out of 224 such booths, 84 are within the city and 140 in rural limits.
