Malabar sees peaceful polling

KOZHIKODE: The Malabar districts registered a high voter turnout in the polling to the legislative Assembly on Monday. Apart from minor clashes and attempts for fake voting, the poll process by and large remained peaceful.

Kannur
Polling in Kannur district which had the most number of sensitive booths and sensitive constituencies was comparatively peaceful. The district marked 79.16 per cent polling with all the constituencies recorded heavy polling. The highest poll percentage was registered at Peravoor (81.1) and the lowest was at Payyannur (76.8).   The District Collector voted at Kannur Talapp Mixed UP School after standing in the queue.

CPM District Secretary P. Jayarajan who was barred from entering the district by the Court voted at Panoor Kongatta UP School after getting special permission. Two CPM workers were arrested for trying to cast bogus votes in Peravoor and Thalassery constituencies. District Collector P Bala Kiran said that two Booth Level Officers were suspended for dereliction of duty.

Kozhikode
Heavy polling in Kozhikode district ended on Monday without much untoward events except a few incidents of verbal clash on the premises of the polling stations. The highest percentage was recorded in Perambra- 85.56  and the lowest in Kozhikode North- 76.97  with a total per cent of  80.78 in the district. High polling was marked in all constituencies where triangular fight was visible. Polling percentage in the last Assembly election was 81.6.

There was a huge rush of voters in Nadapuram from 5 am onwards; long queues were visible in almost all polling stations by 7 am. District Chief Election observer Shalini Pandit visited Purameri, Vishnumangalam and Kummankode south schools in the morning. Officials in collectorate monitored visuals from CCTV cameras installed in 96 booths.

Polling was delayed for 45 minutes after a technical error was detected in voting machine at a booth in St Sebastian Higher Secondary School, Koodaranjy in Thiruvambady constituency. The officials replaced the machines before voting resumed. The machine failed during the mock polling at Palur lower primary school in Payyoli and voting started after one hour.

The large number of voters opting for open votes at the start of voting led to verbal clashes between the UDF and LDF workers in at Parathode near Karassery in Thiruvambady. Personnel for the Central forces deployed at the booth intervened to restore order. Some voters went back without voting at Pannikkode upper primary school complaining that the process was slow.

Wayanad
Wayanad district which saw peaceful polling recorded 78.06 per cent voting even as the District collector ordered the arrest of 11 officials on Monday morning for failure in reporting for poll duty. The officials had reportedly abstained from the training programme for polling officials held on May 13.
A voter collapsed and died while returning home after registering vote at GUP School, Pallikkara. Rajan, 40, son of Choyi of Karat Colony, collapsed on the school premises. He is survived by wife Bindu, children Divya, Dileep, Deepak and Dileesh.

Kasargod
Polling was peaceful in Kasargod district with 72 per cent voters exercised their franchise, District Collector E. Devadas said. “There were a few incidents of clashes reported after the polling,” he said. “A few persons were held for attempting bogus voting,” he said. “The webcasting arranged in 99 booths was also very successful.” There were 186 sensitive booths in the district.

Mahe
Mahe, which is part of Union Territory of Puducherry, recorded 77.18 per cent polling. There were no untoward incidents reported, according to Mahe Regional Administrator S Manicka Deepan.