Despite the security blanket that was thrown over the district, a few incidents of violence towards the end of the day marred the otherwise peaceful picture that Alappuzha maintained on Wednesday as nearly 80 per cent of its 15-lakh-plus voters exercised their franchise.
The district, which saw brisk polling right from when the polling booths opened, saw the usual troublemakers maintaining a low profile under the watchful eyes of over 3,000 security personnel who were on constant move, manning the 1,469 booths in the nine constituencies. However, as voting came to a close by 5 p.m., reports of clashes, one of them ending in a UDF worker being hacked on the head, began trickling in.
Seju, a UDF activist in Pattanakad of Cherthala, was rushed to a private hospital in Ernakulam after he suffered sword injuries on his head during a UDF-LDF skirmish in booth 11 of Pattanakad panchayat. Two policemen were injured when they tried to bring under control a scuffle between UDF and LDF workers at Mithrakari in Kuttanad.
Block-level Congress office-bearers were injured in separate clashes in the sensitive Kainakary region and at Panavally near Aroor.
Mild tension prevailed at two booths in Kayamkulam and Mavelikara following verbal clashes between the rival fronts. In Kuttamangalam of Kuttanad, UDF candidate K.C. Joseph was seen functioning as a polling agent for over an hour, alleging that his booth agent was “threatened and forced to take to his heels” by LDF activists.
In other incidents, Gomathi, 62, a native of Kayamkulam town, died after collapsing while coming out of the polling booth after casting her vote. In Amichakari of Kuttanad, Lakshmikutty, 68, collapsed and died, also while she was stepping out of the booth.
In Vazhuvadi of Mavelikara, chances of a re-poll were high after an electronic voting machine reportedly recorded a higher number of votes than those actually polled. Voting here was stopped after an election observer noticed the anomaly.
Earlier, the district saw Union Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi; Union Minister of State for Power K.C. Venugopal; Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac; Coir and Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran; Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala; and veteran leader K.R. Gouri casting their votes.
Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who reached his hometown of Punnapra in Ambalapuzha constituency by 2 p.m. from his constituency in Malampuzha, cast his vote along with his wife Vasumathi, son V.S. Arun Kumar and daughter-in-law Rajani at 3.30 p.m.
Talking to the media outside the polling booth later, Mr. Achuthanandan said Mr. Sudhakaran, the LDF candidate at Ambalapuzha, would win by a huge majority, and so would the LDF across the State.
The voting percentage in the district, as per statistics provided by election authorities at 8.30 p.m., was pegged at 78.53 per cent. Aroor with 85.05 per cent, Cherthala with 84.6 per cent and Haripad with 80 per cent topped the constituency-wise charts. Alappuzha recorded 79.38 per cent while Ambalapuzha had 76 per cent, Kuttanad 78.43 per cent, Kayamkulam 78.2 per cent, Mavelikara 74.3 per cent and Chengannur 70.77 per cent.
