Thiruvananthapuram, 26 April

With less than an hour remaining for the conclusion of polling in the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, the state registered a turnout of 64.73 per cent at 5.20 pm on Friday. Kerala saw a voter turnout of 77.84 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

To reach that figure this year, the turnout has to see an increase of over 13 per cent in the remaining 40 minutes of polling. Huge queues were seen outside polling booths across the state, with voters complaining that the election process was going on very slowly.

During the day, the first hour of voting saw a turnout of close to 6% and thereafter, every hour saw an increase of 6% to 7% in the turnout. As polling progressed during the day, eligible voters of all ages continued to queue up outside the over 25,000 polling booths in the state, braving the rising temperatures, to cast their vote.

Even a just married couple came to cast their vote in their wedding attire at a booth in Ponnani Lok Sabha constituency. The couple, who had a love marriage, told a TV channel that they were not going to waste their right to vote.

At 5.20 pm, the highest turnout was registered in the northern Kerala Lok Sabha constituency of Kannur at 68.64 per cent with Alappuzha a close second at 68.41 per cent. The election process, amidst tight security arrangements, was primarily incident-free except for instances of bogus voting and breakdown of electronic voting machines (EVMs) being reported in some booths of the state.

Such incidents resulted in delays in the affected booths. Congress leader Anto Antony, who is contesting from Pathanamthitta LS seat, and his party colleague Chandy Oommen expressed dissatisfaction over such incidents and the resultant delays, leading to several voters returning to their homes. Both of them said that they have asked officials to extend the voting time in the affected booths.

The voter turnout was 12.26 per cent at 9.20 am and rose to 19.06 per cent at 10.20 am. Later, it increased to 26.26 per cent at 11.20 am and 33.40 per cent at 12.20 pm. At 1.20 pm the turnout was 40.21 per cent and at 2.20 pm it was 46.02 per cent. At 3.20 pm the turnout was 52.25 per cent and at 4.20 pm it was 58.52 per cent.

A few voters and a polling agent reportedly died, of possible heat stroke or other heat-related issues. According to reports, one person each died at Palakkad, Alappuzha and Malappuram after casting their vote and a polling agent died after collapsing at a booth in Kozhikode.

In Palakkad, the temperature hit a high of 41.54 degrees Celsius, in Alappuzha 33.86, Malappuram 35.78, and Kozhikode 31.73 with relative humidity of 71.69 per cent in this northern Kerala district, according to the India Meteorological Department. Voting commenced in all 20 Lok Sabha seats of the state at 7 am on Friday.