High turnout in first phase of Kerala local body election
The three-phase polling will end on December 14 while votes will be counted on December 16.
Braving restrictions that are in force for the Covid-19 pandemic, people came out in large numbers to vote in the first phase of local body elections in Kerala on Tuesday, considered a vital show of strength before the assembly elections due in April-May
The state election commission said the polling percentage would be around 75% and a final picture will emerge later in the night. Except for stray incidents, polling was peaceful and some Covid-19 patients also exercised their right in PPE kits in the closing hours of the polling.
There were winding queues outside many polling stations since morning. In the first phase, elections were held in five districts - Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Idukki. The second phase of polling is on December 12 and the third and final phase on December 14. Counting will be held on December 16.
The stakes are high for all three major players – the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
For the ruling LDF, which is reeling under many charges and allegations of corruption, it is a referendum on its four and a half years’ rule and for the opposition UDF it is an opportunity to prime itself for the assembly election. And for the BJP, boosted by the recent performance in Hyderabad civic body election, it is an opportunity to prove that it is no more a pushover in the state where the LDF and the UDF have shared power alternately for more than three decades.
