Polling begins in final phase

Thiruvananthapuram, May 3 : Polling began on a peaceful note in the third and final phase of Assembly elections in Kerala at 0700 hrs today, covering 15 constituencies in the two northern districts of Kannur and Kasaragod.

the fate of 85 candidates including CPI(M) Central Committee members Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and P K Sreemathi, KPCC General Secretary K Sudhakaran, Congress(S) President Kadannappally Ramachandran and former ministers C T Ahamed Ali and Cherkalam Abdullah (both IUML) would be decided in this phase of elections.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made to ensure law and order and a peaceful polling as most of the 2,373 polling booths in the two districts with an electorate of 24.08 lakh have been identified as trouble-prone. Police personnel drawn from Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan have been deployed in large numbers for security arrangements.

UNI