Despite rain havoc, Keralites line-up to exercise voting right
Rains that began on Sunday night continued on Monday morning, posing challenges to voters
Thiruvananthapuram: Keralites have kept their reputation of having a high political literacy by braving heavy rains, inundated roads and traffic snarls to cast their votes in five constituencies that went to assembly polls on Monday.
By noon, four of the constituencies had crossed the one-third mark in voting percentage, while only waterlogged Ernakulam lagged at just over 20 per cent.
Rains that began on Sunday night continued on Monday morning, posing challenges to voters and election commission officials alike in all the five constituencies, namely Vattiyoorkavu, Konni, Aroor, Ernakulam and Manjeswaram.
The five bye-elections were necessitated because MLAs in those constituencies contested the Lok Sabha polls in May, and have moved to parliament.
Ernakulam district was the worst affected, with roads being submerged in many places and the south railway station tracks being submerged. Train services were disrupted for many hours, and road traffic was not possible on several stretches.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Mullappally Ramachandran suggested a postponement of the election in Ernakulam, but chief electoral officer Tikkaram Meena turned down the demand.
“The disruption has been mostly in Kochi city, and we are constantly monitoring the situation,” Meena said. He added that the election commission would consider extending the polling time, considering special circumstances.
Through the day, election officials in Kochi were in touch with the Ernakulam district administration. There was waterlogging in 10 polling booths and these booths were moved to other locations.
Seven of Kerala’s 14 districts were flagged with red alerts on Monday, namely Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur and Palakkad.
Following a depression in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, the meteorological department has predicted heavy rains in Kerala over the next five days, accompanied by strong winds with speeds of up to 40km/h. The Kochi airport at Nedumbassery was not affected in Monday’s rain.