Aruvikkara bypolls: People queue up at dawn to vote

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Unprecedented polling was witnessed since morning across Aruvikkara constituency with voters  queuing up before the polling booths as early as 6 a.m., almost an hour before the scheduled time, on Saturday.

Queues comprising a  large number of women were found outside polling stations in all the eight panchayats. 

In a last-ditch effort to gain sympathy votes, the UDF workers had strategically placed former speaker G. Karthikeyan’s big photographs with a garland in front of each polling booth.

The LDF countered this with photographs of EMS and A.K. Gopalan at some booths. The candidates started their day quite early in the morning with M. Vijayakumar, K.S. Sabarinathan and O. Rajagopal moving from booth to booth, pepping up activists managing the show outside the polling stations. They exchanged pleasantries with voters.

Polling stations in Poovachal and Tholicode panchayats witnessed good turnout of Muslim voters, while BJP supporters came out in large numbers in Veeranakavu. The polling in tribal hamlet was also brisk. Podiyath hamlet in Kuttichal panchayat recorded 70.98 per cent votes. There are 448 voters in this hamlet.

At 12 noon,  heavy rain  lashed the constituency slowing down the polling. However, it picked up again till 3 p.m. But another spell of heavy showers began at 3.15 which continued till the completion of voting, affecting the voting pattern in many booths.

There was a scramble during the close of polling hours with party workers making all efforts to get voters to the booths. Two-wheelers, autorickshaws, cars, jeeps and all other modes of transport were used to get the voters in the final hour.

LDF activists staged a dharna in front Aruvikkara High School polling station accusing the poll officials of not allowing voters who had turned up at the booth at 5 p.m.

Hundreds of voters were still in the queues in polling stations across the constituency when gates were closed at 5 p.m.  As per the EC norm, any voter who enters the polling station premises before 5 p.m. is entitled to cast his vote.