Thiruvananthapuram: The 2,60,19,284 voters in the state will decide the fate of 1,203 candidates seeking mandate from 140 constituencies for the 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly. The polling will be from 7 am to 6 pm. Apart from the tight fight between the UDF and LDF, the elections will decide the outcome of the first serious fight put up by the BJP-led NDA to make inroads into the state Assembly. It is also a testing ground for the newly formed BDJS floated by the SNDP.
Chief Electoral Officer E.K. Majhi said all arrangements are in place at the 21,498 polling stations and 148 auxiliary polling stations in the state. Polling materials were distributed to the polling officials on Saturday afternoon. As many as 1.11 lakh officials are engaged in polling activities.
The election officials are expecting that the voter turnout may cross 80 per cent this time from 75.12 per cent during the last Assembly polls, as a result of the massive awareness drives. The tight fight in many constituencies could also improve the voter turnout. Facebook authorities have also offered to give a message about election on Monday to prompt voters to exercise their franchise.
Among the 2,60,19,284 voters, 1,25,10,589 are males and 1,35,08,693 females. For the first time, two persons have enrolled as third-gender, in Thrissur and Palakkad. As many as 3,176 polling stations were identified as critical and vulnerable and additional security measures like deployment of Central armed police force personnel and installation of web casting will be made.
Additional security measures had been made at Kannur in view of concern raised by political parties over the law and order problems in the area. Additional security will be also made at the 119 polling station prone to naxal attacks, Mr Majhi said.
He also said that extra precautions were made in view of the mass malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines during the local body elections due to dampness. “A second round of checking of the EVMs were done and plastic covering materials were also supplied in areas prone for dampness in the atmosphere to protect the EVMs,” Mr Majhi said.
