Millions of voters in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry turned out to cast their votes on Monday, bringing down the curtains on staggered five-state elections in India. Some 40 million voted in Tamil Nadu, which saw multiple contests in all constituencies for the first time, and about 18 million in Kerala, where the BJP made determined efforts to make inroads in a state dominated by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) headed by the CPI-M. The polling percentage in Kerala — which elects a 140-seat assembly — was 70.35 at 5 p.m. Election Commission officials said it could well cross the 75.12 per cent recorded in 2011 when the polling ends at 6pm. Nearly 13 million people had voted by Monday afternoon in Kerala to pick a new assembly, with both the Congress and the Left insisting they were on the road to victory. Long queues formed outside polling centers across the state right from 7 a.m. despite rains, with officials saying that 43.88 percent of the 26 million voters had exercised their franchise by 1 p.m. As per election officials, the state has 2,60,19,284 voters comprising 1,25,10,589 males, 1,35,08,693 females and two voters belonging to the third gender. Overall, there are 21,498 regular polling booths and 148 auxiliary polling booths, of which there are 1,233 categorized as critical and including 119 booths that are in Maoist-influenced areas. A total of 1,203 contestants, including 109 women, are in the fray. Despite rains and the cloudy weather across the state, people were seen queuing up in front of most polling booths. The electoral battle is principally between the traditional rival fronts – the Congress-led UDF and the CPI-M-led LDF, while the BJP-led NDA alliance is hoping a major victory. As brisk voting continued, both Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and CPI-M veteran V.S. Achuthanandan asserted that their coalitions were set to win the electoral battle. Chandy said after casting his vote that he was confident the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) would retain its majority in the assembly. — Agencies
