The Hindu : Kerala News : Polling percentage up, votes polled down

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Polling percentage up, votes polled down

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 11 . What began as a listless and issue-less election appears to have climaxed as a bitter contest in Kerala with the State registering a one percentage point increase in the votes polled as compared to the 1999 Lok Sabha election. The final tally shows that 71.46 per cent of the Kerala electorate exercised their franchise on Monday, up from 70.19 per cent.

Although there has been an increase in the polling percentage, the number of votes cast has actually come down from 1,54,82,676 to 1,50,58,608 votes. This is in tune with the fall in the total size of the electorate from 2,20,58,901 in 1999 to 2,10,86,280. As in 1999, the highest polling percentage has been registered in Kannur (79.04). Ernakulam has the lowest polling percentage of 61.24. Wadakkancherry, which went in for a byelection to the Assembly, registered a whopping 79.14 per cent polling. Out of 1,60,483 voters in the constituency, 1,26,999 cast their votes in the bypoll.

Drawing any inference from the polling percentage alone would be hazardous, for some interesting aspects of the polling figures are too striking to be missed. For instance, the constituencies that have registered a fall in the votes cast are those where the Congress had faced serious difficulties during the run-up to the election. These are Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Mukundapuram and Alappuzha. They have, in fact, bucked the general trend of a rising polling percentage.

Ernakulam, where the candidature of Edward Edezhath of the Congress had led to heartburning among local leaders, saw the votes polled fall by a steep 4.55 percentage points. Kozhikode, where the Congress candidate, V. Balaram, was in the fray with the handicap of being an outsider imposed from above in the face of resistance from the local party leadership, saw the votes polled fall by 3.18 percentage points.

The fall in Mukundapuram, where Padmaja Venugopal was the in the fray, was by 2.53 points and in Alappuzha, where V.M. Sudheeran of the Congress faced a stiff challenge, was by 1.44 percentage points. Among the constituencies that have registered an increase in polling percentage, the noteworthy is the increase in Muvattupuzha followed by Thiruvananthapuram and Manjeri.

The two had witnessed stiff three-cornered contests and the third a strong LDF show in a Muslim League citadel.

While Muvattupuzha registered a staggering 7.85 percentage points increase in the votes cast, Thiruvananthapuram saw an increase of 5.46 percentage points and Manjeri a 5.28 points rise.

Mavelikkara also appears to have joined the trend registering a 3.17 percentage points increase in the votes polled.

The increase in Vadakara was by 1.24 percentage points, in Ponnani by 1.62, Palakkad (1.65), Ottappalam (2.76), Thrissur (0.54), Kottayam (1.06), Idukki (1.08), Adoor (1.54), Kollam (0.35) and Chirayinkeezhu (2.61).

Kasaragod (77.61) and Kannur (79.04) have retained their 1999 polling percentages but for the last digits.

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