Edamalakkudy, the only tribal grama panchayat in the State recorded a voting of only 46.34% in the assembly elections held on Tuesday.
The election process in Edamalakkudy situated inside the Munnar forest division bordering with Tamil Nadu, ends only when the
polling team reaches the collectorate to hand over the EVMs (electronic voting machines) and polling materials at the strong room.
A 25-member polling team came back on Wednesday afternoon.
Normally, the officials on polling duty move to Edamalakkudy prior to a day to avoid night travel. The chances of wild animal attack especially during night on a stretch of 18 km from Pettimudy are high.
There were four polling booths set up at Edamalakkudy with two in Societykudy, the headquarters of nearly 22 settlements. The other two were in Parappayarkudy and Mulakutharakudy.
The voting in booth number 30 was 50.6%, and in 30 A was 42.8%. The voting in booth number 31 was 48.95% and in booth number 32, it was 43 %.
Of the 1,817 voters, only 842 persons cast their votes. The information from each booth was collected at intervals and relayed to the Collectorate using police wireless. Though the BSNL had set up a mobile tower at Societykudy, it was not functioning and the area remained cut off from mobile connection.
A former official at Edamalakkudy grama panchayat' at Devikulam said that the low polling percentage might have been due to poor election campaign by the parties. The voting in the 2020 local body election was 66.93 %.
