With the polling stations in Thripunithura witnessing relatively a high voter turn out of over 74 per cent, all three major coalitions contesting for the seat here have expressed their hopes of turning the tide in their favour.
Long queues were witnessed outside several polling stations as the young, the elderly and differently-abled people, cutting across all sections of society, turned up in large numbers. Even affluent areas, which are considered usually lethargic when it comes to voting, reported heavy polling.
Election Commission officials said around 9 per cent of the electorate cast their votes within the first two hours of voting.
“The turnout was much lesser in the first couple of hours since polling started at 7 p.m. as the showers prevented many from voting. The cloudy climate and subsequent mild rain helped voters to come out in large numbers during the afternoon hours for voting and it touched a peak after 1 p.m. before coming down after 5 p.m.’’, they said.
The electioneering was incident-free and peaceful across the constituency though the polling booths at Kodankulangara L.P. School and Irimpanam SNDP School were earmarked as troubled by the Election Commission because of past incidents of violence. Additional security was ensured in all those places.
UDF strongholds
An upbeat mood was visible in the UDF camp right from the morning with the high turnout of voters in its strongholds.
The LDF camp attributed the huge turnout to the wave created by its candidate M.Swaraj. The NDA managers, meanwhile, pointed out the record turnout as the result of its candidate making deep inroads into the constituency.
Triangular contest
“It was indeed a strong triangular contest, which can be the one main reason for the high voter turnout in the constituencies’’, explained K.Babu, the UDF candidate, who represented the constituency for five consecutive terms.
While K.Babu exercised his franchise at the Town Girls high School, Thuravur Viswambharan, the NDA candidate, voted at the SNHSS in Ayyappankavu, Ernakulam.
M.Swaraj is a voter of Nilambur in Malappuram district, and he exercised his franchise at the Nettikkulam AUP School there.
