Thiruvananthapuram: A complete of 194 contestants in 20 Lok Sabha seats are vying for voters’ help as Kerala goes to the polls on Friday, after over a month-long fierce marketing campaign by the CPI(M)-led ruling LDF, Congress-headed UDF, and the BJP-led NDA. The Election Commission stated there are over 2.75 crore voters in Kerala the place polling will start at 7 am on Friday.
Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Kaul stated 63,100 bottles of ink are used to stop fraudulent voting and guarantee flawless and clear elections. This time there are 2,77,49,159 voters within the state out of which greater than 5 lakh are first-time voters.
Kottayam constituency boasts the very best variety of candidates at 14, whereas Alathur has the fewest at 5. Other notable figures are – 13 candidates in Kozhikode and 12 every in Kollam and Kannur. Of the whole 194 candidates, 169 are males and 25 are ladies. The Vadakara constituency stands out with the very best variety of feminine candidates, at 4.
The Election Commission stated steps have been taken to make sure secure and peaceable polling by deploying 66,303 safety personnel. Kerala Police and Central forces are offering tight safety for the polling in a complete of 25,231 cubicles organized at 13,272 locations.
Police deployment has been made all through the state as per the directions of the Central Election Commission. When the polling for 20 constituencies within the state begins at 7 am on Friday, greater than 5 lakh first-time voters will go to the polling sales space.
As the curtains fell on Wednesday night, marking the conclusion of the over-month-long, high-octane public campaigning for the April 26 polls, Kerala on Thursday witnessed a silent marketing campaign earlier than the state votes.
Two union ministers, a state minister, three actors and some MLAs are among the many complete candidates who attempt their political luck this time. BJP-led NDA is fielding essentially the most variety of ladies candidates – 5. Unlike the earlier normal elections, Kerala has seen a extremely energetic and aggressive marketing campaign.
Diverse points starting from the implementation of the CAA, the alleged existence of ‘love jihad’, controversies surrounding ‘The Kerala Story’ film, the Manipur violence, Rahul Gandhi’s candidature in Wayanad, in addition to alleged appeasement of minorities by numerous political events, dominated the high-decibel public campaigns.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the UDF gained 19 of the 20 seats, whereas the LDF needed to accept only a single seat.
Key Candidates And Constituencies To Look Out For
Of the 20 constituencies in Kerala going to polls on Friday, two seats – Alathur and Mavelikara- are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates.
1. Wayanad: Congress chief and sitting MP Rahul Gandhi is recontesting towards Annie Raja of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Both of them are a part of the nationwide INDIA alliance however are rivals in Kerala. Congress has been successful in Wayanad because the 2009 normal elections. BJP, which is but to open its account within the state, has fielded its state president Ok Surendran within the constituency.
2. Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Congress chief and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor gained this seat within the 2009, 2014 and 2019 normal elections. The former UN diplomat is contesting towards BJP chief and Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and CPI’s Pannyan Raveendran.
3. Kollam: Sitting MP NK Premachandran (RSP) is pitted towards two actor-turned-politicians – Mukesh, an MLA of CPI-M, and G Krishnakumar (BJP).
4. Thrissur: Ok Muraleedharan of Congress is pitted towards VS Sunil Kumar of CPI and actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi of BJP
5. Attingal: Sitting MP Adoor Prakash of Congress is contesting towards V Joy of CPM and V Muraleedharan of BJP.
6. Pathanamthitta: Congress’ Anto Antony is competing towards Thomas Issac from the CPI(M) and Anil Ok Antony of the BJP.
7. Kasaragod: BJP candidate ML Ashwini is pitted towards Congress’ Rajmohan Unnithan, who’s the sitting MP within the constituency, and CPI (M)’s MV Balakrishnan.
8. Kannur: Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief Ok Sudhakaran is contesting towards CPI(M)’s MV Jayarajan and NDA candidate C Raghunath, who had joined the BJP from Congress.
9. Vadakara: Congress chief Shafi Parambil, who’s a UDF candidate, is contesting towards LDF candidate KK Shailaja of the CPI(M) and Praphul Krishnan (BJP).
10. Kozhikode: Congress’ MK Raghavan, the UDF candidate, is working towards CPI(M)’s Elamaram Kareemm, the LDF candidate, and BJP’s MT Ramesh.
11. Malappuram: ET Mohammed Basheer of the IUML is the UDF candidate towards CPI(M)’s VA Vaseef, the LDF candidate, and Abdul Salam from Bharatiya Janata Party.
12. Ponnani: Nivedita Subramanian of BJP is dealing with Abdussamad Samadani of IUML and KS Hamza of the CPI (M).
13. Palakkad: C Krishnakumar from Bharatiya Janata Party is contesting towards A Vijayaraghavan of Communist Party Of India (Marxist), and sitting MP VK Sreekandan from Congress
14. Alathur: TN Sarasu of the BJP is contesting Ramya Haridas of Congress and Ok Radhakrishnan of CPI(M)
15. Chalakudy: Benny Behanan of Congress is the UDF candidate and is contesting towards CPI(M)’s C Raveendranath and KA Unnikrishnan from Bharath Dharma Jana Sena
16. Ernakulam: Hibi Eden of UDF is dealing with CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front KJ Shine and KS Radhakrishnan of the BJP.
17. Idukki: UDF’s Dean Kuriakose of the Congress is up towards Sangeetha Viswanath from Bharath Dharma Jana Sena and Joice George from the Communist Party Of India (Marxist)
18. Kottayam: Thushar Vellappalli from Bharath Dharma Jana Sena is contesting towards Ok Francis George of Kerala Congress and Thomas Chazhikadan of Kerala Congress (M).
19. Alappuzha: KC Venugopal from Congress, Shobha Surendran from Bharatiya Janata Party and AM Ariff from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) are within the fray. Ariff is the sitting MP from the seat.
20. Mavelikkara: UDF’s Kodikkunnil Suresh is pitted towards CPI(M)’s Arun Kumar CA and and Baiju Kalasala of BDJS.
