Better connect, better turnout

June 28, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:50 am IST - Thiruvananthapuram:

Enthusiasm is writ large on the faces of women voters at a polling booth in the Kottoor tribal area in the Aruvikkara constituency on Saturday.— Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

Enthusiasm is writ large on the faces of women voters at a polling booth in the Kottoor tribal area in the Aruvikkara constituency on Saturday.— Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

The time is 8 a.m. The skies have just cleared up after overnight rain. A Kerala State Road Transport Corporation ordinary bus stops in front of the forest office in the Kottoor tribal area. Within a minute, all the 50-odd passengers inside alight and queue up in front of the forest office, polling booth number 151 for the Aruvikkara by-election.

A majority of the 480 voters in this booth live up in the hills at Mangode, Chonampara, Kanithode, and other places.

“We got this tarred road and power supply only in the past 4-5 years. Some of us got houses under various schemes too. At least a few of us used to vote even before the roads came. But this year, everyone is excited as we are witnessing this level of campaigning and so much attention for the first time,” says Ajayakumar, one of the voters here.

This refrain about the voter turnout being the result of intensive campaigning in otherwise neglected areas was heard across much of the tribal belt in the constituency.

At Government Lower Primary School, Kallar, everyone standing in queue was speaking about the new faces who turned up for voting this year.

“We come from an area called Thannippatti, about 6 kilometres from here. We came by foot and had to cross a river. This time when they came, we told them about our long-time demand for a bridge here. We expect something to be done this time,” says Vijayakumari.

Near the polling booth at Bonacaud, close to the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, several vehicles registered in Tamil Nadu were seen. The area once had several settlers from the neighbouring State working in tea plantations here. Following the closure of these plantations a few years ago, many of them left for their home State, but come back here during every election, with some prodding by the various party workers.

The ones who still live here travel to Thiruvananthapuram city for work daily.

“I decided not to go for work today so that I could vote. After all, this is the only proof for the government that I am still alive,” says Raghu, a voter here.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.