Kerala records highest percentage of polling in 30 years

Guwahati: The state of Kerala witnessed the highest polling in 30 years in the Lok Sabha polls with 77.68 percent where the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) put up a fierce fight to garner maximum seats.

The state had a strength of 2.61 crore electorate. The state had witnessed a polling of 79.3 percent in the 1989 Parliamentary elections.

According to the Election Commission's figure released this morning, 77.68 percent electors had turned up in 24,970 polling stations across the state who had exercised their franchise in the third phase of Lok Sabha polls held yesterday.

The high range constituency Wayanad from which Rahul Gandhi has contested as his second seat registered a record polling of 80.31 percent against the 73.25 percent registered in the 2014 elections.

The BJP-led NDA put up a formidable challenge to the two traditional fronts in at least three constituencies- Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta and Thrissur.

The prominent candidates who are in the fray in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency are Congress President Rahul Gandhi, BJP leader Kummanam Rajasekharan and Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram and Union Minister Alphons Kannamthanam (Ernakulam).

Kannur in North Kerala recorded the highest polling percentage with 83.05 while Thiruvananthapuram recorded with 73.45 percent polling which is the lowest.

Pathanamthitta, which was the ground zero of frenzied protests on the Sabarimala women's entry issue recorded a poll of 74.19 percent. 80% voter turnout recorded in eight out of the 20 constituencies in the recent history of the state.

Women queued up in large numbers outnumbering men in all the polling stations except Idukki and Kottayam. A total of 227 candidates were in the fray in the state including 23 women.

There were maximum number of candidates in the Wayanad constituency with 20 candidates and the lowest number of candidates were in the Alathur in Palallad district with six numbers.

In 2014, UDF had won 12 seats, LDF 8seats while BJP failed to open its account and 74.02% votes were polled in the southern state in 2014.