District records 84% voter turnout

Polling was by and large peaceful and there were no reports of violence from any part of the district.

Women Power:With more women candidates in the fray, many booths in Kochi witnessed long queues of women to vote right from the morning. A scene from a polling booth set up at a school in Elamakkara on Thursday. —Photo: Thulasi Kakkat

Ernakulam district registered 84 per cent voter turnout as per the latest reports available with the election officials.

However, a clear picture would evolve only after electronic voting machines from across the district reached the collections centres late in the night. In the 2010 elections, 79.90 per cent voters cast their votes in the district.

Polling was by and large peaceful and there were no reports of violence from any part of the district. Polling started at 7 a.m. and remained sluggish owing to rain before picking up by noon.

An aberration was the voting to first ward in Payipra grama panchayat where heavy polling was registered from the very outset and 69 per cent had cast their votes at Payipra government school by around 11 a.m. This shot off above 88 per cent by afternoon and ended at a rather improbable high of 93.50 per cent. Out of 1,340 voters here, 1253 cast their votes.

As per reports, Kalamassery municipality witnessed 79.96 per cent voter turnout, North Paravur 83.97 per cent, Angamaly 84.56 per cent, Eloor 83 per cent, Thrikkakara 78.1 per cent, Aluva 78.79 per cent, and Piravom panchayat registered 81.75 per cent voting.

The Koovappady block panchayat registered a voter turnout of 86.29 per cent, Vazhakkulam 86.71 per cent, and Edappally block panchayat registered 78.59 per cent voter turnout. In Mulanthuruthy block panchayat, 83.74 per cent had cast vote and in Pampakkuda it was 82.22 per cent.

Security

Police had deployed 2,500-odd personnel in polling booths within the city limits. A district striking force of 75 men under the control of the city police commissioner was kept ready to meet any eventualities. The entire police contingent was under the control of 14 DySPs and included 15 circle inspectors, 69 sub-inspectors, and 2,000-odd police personnel, including women. Police had also deployed 100-odd vehicles.

Web casting

Web casting was put in place in 48 sensitive booths while video recording was arranged in seven remaining sensitive booths to ensure live surveillance of these polling booths.