Kerala goes to polls on Friday, April 26th
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Thiruvananthapuram: In Kerala, 194 candidates are contesting 20 seats while the state goes to polls to Lok Sabha on Friday. In the state, the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF, Congress-led UDF, and BJP’s NDA are going to battle when the LDF is looking to find firm grounds with more representation in LS, and NDA- who has zero sitting LS seats- to open an account.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the UDF won 19 of the 20 seats, while the LDF had to settle for just a single seat.
In the state, where the polling will commence at 7:00 in the morning, there are 2.75 crore voters, the Election Commission said. Out of the 2,77,49,159 voters, five lakh are first-time voters.
Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Kaul said that 63,100 bottles of ink are used in the electoral process in the state to prevent fraudulent voting and ensure flawless and transparent polling.
When Kottayam has the highest number of candidates, 14, Alathur has the lowest, 5. Kozhikode has 13 candidates, while Kollam and Kannur have 12 each. There are 169 men candidates, while 25 are women. BJP has fielded most of the woman candidates, 5. Vadakara constituency has the highest number of female candidates, with four women. The candidates include two union ministers, a state minister, three actors and a few MLAs.
The Election Commission informed that it has deployed 66,303 security personnel across the state. Kerala Police and Central forces are providing security to 25,231 booths in 13,272 places. The deployment of security is according to the instructions of the Central Election Commission.
Following a month of campaigning, which ended on Wednesday, April 24th, Kerala witnessed a silent campaign on Thursday.
