The Hindu 26.10.2010
67.7 per cent polling for corporation council
Staff Reporter
FOR DEMOCRACY:Former Supreme Court judge
KOCHI: Heavy voter turnout marked the election to the Kochi corporation held on Monday, with the final polling figures being 67.7 per cent.
Most of the polling booths in the city witnessed an average 30 per cent voting during the initial hours of polling.
By around 1 p.m., nearly 40 per cent votes were polled in the city booths. It took two more hours in the corporation area for half of the votes to be polled. The polling crossed 60 per cent during the next one hour.
Barring two incidents of impersonation in West Kochi, the poll process went of peacefully in the city.
The police have arrested Shemir of Kumbalanghi Veli for attempting to impersonate a voter at 1/16 booth set up at Eda Kochi Government High School. The police also arrested Abdul Salam on similar charges from 5/3 booth at the KMM Hall, Mattancherry, the police said.
In another incident, the LDF leaders complained that there was an attempt at impersonation at Ponnurunni by presenting false election identity cards.
Long queues of voters could be seen at some of the polling booths in Ponnuruni from the morning hours itself. The polling process went on at a fast pace in almost all the booths in the city. Political party leaders said that despite the complaints raised by them regarding the slow pace of voting, the situation had not improved.
The political parties were reluctant to make any claims and predictions based on the record voter turnout in the election.
C.K. Manisankar, the CPI (M) leader in charge of the LDF in the city, said that the factors like the presence of candidates supported by Jamaath Islami and Social Democratic Party of India and the 18-odd-rebel candidates might have resulted in increased voting in the city. A consolidation of Christian votes and heavy voter turnout from the Muslim belt might have also contributed to the record turn out, he said.
No predictions would be possible based on the voter turnout. The LDF had ensured that all its votes were polled during the initial hours of polling. The Front had prepared a list of its sure votes and deployed one squad each for ensuring the polling of every 50 sure votes. This might have also reflected in the polling figures, he said.
At the same time, N. Venugopal, the KPCC general secretary, said that record turn out in the Kochi corporation, especially the central city region, was due to the polling of large number of UDF votes which were not polled during the last election. Many voters, who abstained from voting in the last election, queued up for voting and this will reflect in the poll results, he said.
