Polling for the 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala concluded on Friday, recording a turnout of 69.04%. The electoral process proceeded amid tight security arrangements, though a few instances of bogus voting and electronic voting machine (EVM) breakdowns were reported at some booths, according to local media website Onmanorama.
The voter turnout steadily increased throughout the day. At 9:20 am, the turnout was 12.26%, rising to 16% by 10 am and 19.06% by 10:20 am. By 1 pm, the turnout reached 39.26%, and it increased to 51.64% by 3 pm. A total of 27.7 million voters were eligible to vote for 194 candidates in Kerala’s 2024 Lok Sabha elections, including at least 500,000 first-time voters.
Prominent candidates contesting in Kerala include former finance minister TM Thomas Isaac from the Left Democratic Front (LDF), Devaswom minister K Radhakrishnan, former health minister KK Shailaja, former agriculture minister VS Sunil Kumar, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member KC Venugopal, Union ministers V Muraleedharan and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, CWC member Shashi Tharoor from the United Democratic Front (UDF), and BJP state president K Surendran.
Chief electoral officer Sanjay Kaul stated that comprehensive arrangements were made across the 25,231 polling stations in the state. The security measures included 62 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), 555 all-women polling booths, and 10 booths staffed by differently-abled personnel.
Kerala’s political landscape has traditionally been dominated by the Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M)-led LDF, with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) struggling to make inroads. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the UDF won 19 out of 20 seats, while the LDF secured only one seat. The NDA has never won a seat in Kerala.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressed confidence that the LDF would achieve a historic win in these elections, dismissing the BJP’s claim of securing double-digit seats. “The saffron party will not even get one seat,” Vijayan remarked. Meanwhile, senior leaders from all major political fronts in Kerala, including the LDF, UDF, and NDA, cast their votes early in the morning, signaling the importance of this election for all parties involved.
As Kerala looks forward to the results, the voter turnout in 2024 was lower compared to the 77.84% turnout in the 2019 elections. This variation may reflect a changing political landscape or the impact of specific events leading up to the elections. Despite technical issues and isolated incidents, Kerala’s voting process proceeded with a sense of civic duty and heightened security.
