Kerala first phase polls record 65 per cent polling

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 22 (UNI) An estimated 65 per cent of the 83.89 lakh electorate today voted in six southern districts of Kerala in the first round of the three-phased assembly elections, with the poll process being peaceful in all the polling centres.

Starting on a dull note in the initial hours, voting gained momentum in most places by noon.

Long queues were seen in some polling stations in the rural areas from the morning itself, while polling progressed on a slow pace in the cities.

No untoward incident was reported from any of the districts.

The highest polling of 68 per cent was recorded in Pathanamthitta, followed by 67 per cent in Kollam. Thiruvananthapuram district recorded 65 per cent polling, Idukki 62 per cent, Kottayam 65 per cent and Alappuzha 65.28 per cent.

In some polling stations, voting was disrupted for sometime, as the electronic voting machines did not work.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy accompanied by his wife and two children cast his vote at the M D Lower Primary School at Puthuppally in Kottayam district. After casting his vote, Mr Chandy accused the Left Democratic Front(LDF) of stalling development works.

The CPI(M)'s attitude to the ''Smart City'' project showed their anti-development stand, he added.

Labour Minister Babu Divakaran, who is contesting from Kollam, and Revenue Minister K M Mani, contesting from Pala, cast their votes at the Kollam S N College and St Thomas High School at Pala respectively. The other Ministers, who cast their votes were K R Gowri, K C Venugopal and Adoor Prakash.

Water Resources Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and former Minister R Balakrishna Pillai also exercised their franchise at their respective polling stations.

Pradesh Congress Committee(PCC) President Ramesh Chennithala, who cast his ballot at Chennithala in Mavelikkara expressed confidence that the United Democratic Front(UDF) would win the elections.

Congress Working Committee member and former Chief Minister A K Antony exercised his franchise at the Jagathy school in Thiruvananthapuram.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo member V S Achutanandan cast his vote at Paravoor Government school in Ambalappuzha. After casting his vote, he said the LDF would win the elections by a huge margin and its Chief Minister would be decided after the elections.

Mr Achutanandan said the LDF was not against development and that the Oommen Chandy Government was only attempting to protect the interests of the real estate lobby on the ''Smart City'' issue.

The other LDF candidates, who cast their votes were CPI(M) Poli Bureau member S Ramachandran Pillai, Central Committee member M A Baby, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) State Secretary T J Chandrachoodan, CPI(M) Thiruvananthapuram District Secretary and former Assembly speaker M Vijayakumar.

A total of 409 candidates are in the fray in Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Alappuzha, Idukki and Kottayam districts. The UDF had won 45 of the 59 seats in 2001 Assembly elections. In the 2001 Assembly elections, Thiruvananthapuram had recorded 65.33 per cent polling, Kollam 71.04 per cent, Pathanamthiatta 71.88 per cent, Alappuzha 74.83 per cent, Kottayam 72.81 per cent and Idukki 74.5 per cent.

The LDF leaders said that the low polling turnout would favour them. However, the UDF were confident of maintaining a good lead in the constituencies.

Despite the confusion on the leadership issue and reports of infighting within the Front, the morale of the LDF is high as almost all the pre-poll surveys have predicted clean sweep for the Marxist-led combine. However, the UDF dismissed the surveys, saying they lacked credibility.

Sandwiched between the two fronts is the BJP, which is yet to open its account in the state Assembly. The party is mainly concentrating on 17 seats, including Palakkad from where Former Union Minister O Rajagopal is contesting.

The campaigning in the last stage for the first phase was in high pitch with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and his CPI counterpart A B Bardhan addressing a number of public meetings.

The UDF projected its development agenda and sought a renewed mandate to carry forward its programmes. The LDF approached the voters with a request for a change of guard to correct the ''wrong policies'' of the incumbent.

UNI