After a high-voltage campaign lasting barely a fortnight, Kerala goes to the Assembly polls on Wednesday to decide whether to opt for continuity or change.
It has been a contest on the razor's edge with the main players not sparing any effort to swing the voter their way. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), on the up after its successive wins in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and the 2010 local body polls, has gone all out to whip up voter apathy towards the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and its government. But it has met more than its match in Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan who, despite his advanced age, took upon himself a punishing campaign schedule to take the battle into the UDF camp. On the UDF side, this task was undertaken by Union Defence Minister A.K. Antony.
Although a distant third overall, the BJP too has been quite active on the campaign front, raising visions of a possible breakthrough in at least one or two constituencies. And, hardly noticed by many, several smaller players such as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) too have been making their presence felt in constituencies where they have some presence.
As many as 2,31,47,871 voters spread across the 140 constituencies in the State will decide the fate of 971 candidates, 893 of them men and 78 women. The voters will exercise their franchise at 20,758 polling booths, of which 3,703 have been identified by the Election Commission as ‘sensitive' ones. Of the sensitive booths, 1,257 are in Kannur, 672 in Kozhikode, 377 in Kasaragod and 375 in Thiruvananthapuram. The Election Commission has deployed 40 companies of Central forces along with 40 companies of the State police to ensure free, fair and peaceful polling. Among the voters this time are 8,862 non-resident Keralites, the first time that non-resident Indians are getting the opportunity to cast their votes in any election in the country.
With the conclusion of the public campaign on Monday evening, the candidates and the campaigners were busy trying to cover as many households during the silent phase of the campaign and distribute the voter slip. The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements to assist voters with facilitation desks at all polling booths besides SMS alerts for those who wish to identify their polling booths and voting status. Polling officials began moving to their respective booths from early Tuesday. The polling will start at 7 a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m.
