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Voter turnout in the Kerala Assembly elections stood at 77.45%, according to updated figures released by the Election Commission at 7 pm, surpassing the 74.06%
recorded in the 2021 polls.
Voting for the 16th Kerala Legislative Assembly concluded at 6 pm on Thursday after an intense month-long campaign by the ruling LDF, Congress-led UDF and BJP-led NDA. The polling process remained largely peaceful, with only minor technical glitches reported at a few locations.
Turnout rose steadily through the day, increasing from 16.23% at 9 am to 33.28% by 11 am and 49.70% at 1 pm, reflecting consistent voter participation across all 140 constituencies and over 30,000 polling stations.
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State Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U Kelkar told ANI that he is hopeful of the state reporting 90% voting. "The election in Keralam has been very peaceful and very progressive. At this point in time, we have crossed around 40% of our polling percentage. Looking at the trend, we are very hopeful that we'll be able to reach our target of 90%. The polling started on time at 7 am, and at 6 pm, we'll be closing the polling. It's very heartening to see people turning up in big numbers. We hope that we'll be able to meet our target. This time, the first-time voters have also turned out in big numbers. In our electoral roll, we have 4.6 lakh first-time voters."
The political leaders and prominent personalities who cast their votes in the morning included CM Vijayan, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan, Union Minister of State Suresh Gopi, KPCC chief Sunny Joseph and actor Mohanlal.
Tight security arrangements are in place, which included deployment of over 76,000 security personnel and live monitoring of the election process by an extensive webcasting system.
Around 2.71 crore voters will decide the fate of the 883 candidates who are contesting from the 140 Assembly constituencies in the state.
Kerala polls: Full list of Congress candidates
As per the Election Commission, the electorate comprises 1.32 crore men, 1.39 crore women and 273 transgender persons, along with over 2.42 lakh overseas voters.
Kerala polls: Full list of LDF candidates
The voters will also decide whether the LDF get a third consecutive term or if the UDF or NDA present viable alternatives. The result will be declared on May 4
