The capital district, for the second time on the trot, appears to have recorded the lowest polling percentage across the State during the first phase of local body elections.
The district had recorded 69.27 per cent in the first phase of the 2010 local body elections, which was the lowest percentage among seven districts that went to the polls then.
The State average was then 75.33 per cent.
This time, the percentage, according to the State Election Commission’s Facebook page, was slightly lower, being 69 per cent for Thiruvananthapuram, and 76.20 per cent for the seven districts.
This, however, was likely to change when the final figures were available.
SEC figures
The figures, posted by the SEC on its Facebook page, by 8.50 p.m. were, 60 per cent in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, against a State average (for Corporations) of 67.95 per cent; and 75 per cent in municipalities against a State average (municipalities) of 78.49 per cent.
The polling in the district, which was off to a sluggish start under a heavy spell of rain at 7 a.m., was pegged at just 25.33 per cent by noon, with the municipalities and grama panchayats recording 26 per cent and the Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation, just 22 per cent.
The trend showed signs of picking up, albeit slightly, with the rain slowly petering out by 1 p.m.
The overall percentage in the district was 33.33 per cent at this juncture, with the municipalities registering a turnout of 35 per cent and the Corporation, still lagging behind at 30 per cent.
Voters seemed to have been waiting for the sun to come out, with the afternoon figures, i.e., till 4 p.m., showing a marked improvement.
The district percentage at 4 p.m., when there was barely an hour left for the polling process to wind up, was 63.66 per cent with 68 per cent of voters in the municipalities exercising their franchise.
The Corporation, at this point, had registered a turnout of 55 per cent.
