Over 70 per cent of the voters have cast their votes in the Kerala Assembly elections so far.
According to the Election Commission, 70.35 per cent polling was registered in the State as a whole by 5 p.m. The State had recorded 75.12 per cent polling in the 2011 Assembly eelections.
The following were the polling percentages at the time: Kasargod 69.90 per cent, Kannur 72.88 per cent, Wayanad 70.32 per cent, Kozhikode 73.39 per cent, Malappuram 67.28 per cent, Palakkad 71.07 per cent, Thrissur 72.24 per cent, Ernakulam 72.07 per cent, Idukki 65.97 per cent, Kottayam 71.06 per cent, Alappuzha 73.37 per cent, Pathanamthitta 61.83 per cent, Kollam 69.16 per cent and Thiruvananthapuram 67.77 per cent.
Long queues were visible in polling booths across the State when reports last came in. The polling would conclude at 6 p.m. Polling was moderate to brisk, particularly in the northern districts, from morning despite the skies remaining overcast and several places experiences steady drizzle. The polling was slow in the southern districts.
Most noteworthy was the slow pace of polling in the constituencies where the three alliances in the fray--the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) were locked in three-cornered contest. But there was every indication that the final figures would be more than that in 2011.
Earlier, speaking to reporters after casting his vote at the Jagthy Lower Primary School in the State capital, Congresss Working Committee (CWC) member A.K. Antony too said that Kerala would create history this time by returning the United Democratic Front (UDF) to power. He had no doubt that the BJP would not open its account in Kerala.
Away in Palakakd, Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan said a Left wave was sweeping across the State and that the LDF would get an emphatic mandate to form the next government. In Kannur, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan said the polls would be a warning against recurrence of the gruesome murder of the Dalit law student at Perumbavoor.
In Thiruvananthapuram, BJP State president Kummanam Rajasekharan said the polling pattern showed that the people of Kerala are craving for a change in the State. The people are registering their anger and anxiety about the misrule over the past 60 years by the Left and the Right, he said.
The State also saw history being created by Governor P. Sathasivam who became the person holding the office to cast his/her vote in any election in the State.
