Unusual voter visit: Snake in VVPAT machine in Kannur delays polling

Kannur, Apr 23: An unusual "visitor" in a polling booth in Kerala's Kannur Lok Sabha constituency held up voting for a brief while today. A small snake was found inside a VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) machine in a booth at Mayyil Kandakkai in the Kannur constituency.

The presence of the snake triggered panic among election officials and voters in the polling booth. The snake was removed soon and voting continued.

Kannur Lok Sabha constituency is witnessing heavy polling today as part of phase 3 of the national elections.

The Kannur constituency, where sitting MP PK Sreemathy (CPI-M-LDF), K Surendrdan (Congress-UDF) and CK Padmanabhan (BJP-NDA) are trying their luck, is witnessing brisk polling since morning.

Snake inside VVPAT machine holds up polling in Kannur — this must be a first for Indian democracy?! https://t.co/bXF1U9nDIM

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 23, 2019