Kerala has seen a voter turnout of 73.58% as voting in the all-important Assembly election came to a close at 7 pm on Tuesday. Among all districts, Kozhikode had the highest voter turnout with 77.9%, while Pathanamthitta had the least with 65.5%. voter turnout. Reportedly, the 2016 state Assembly election saw a voter turnout of 77.53% which was up from 75.12% in the 2011 election.
Meanwhile, complaints of irregularities continue to break through the day. Towards evening, news broke that massive wrongdoings took place in postal ballots in the Parassala constituency. According to reports, allegations of post voting irregularity emerged in Perumkadavila and Kunnathukal panchayats in Thiruvananthapuram. The incident came to light after an election officer told voters at polling booths that their votes were already cast via postal ballot. Such incidents were also reported in Idukki. Interestingly, those informed by the election officer are not eligible for postal voting
The Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that massive election fraud took place in many panchayats. They claimed that the voter fraud took place against voters who did not come to postal booths to cast their vote. The saffron party has demanded a detailed investigation.
Meanwhile, in the last hour of voting, two people lost their lives during the polling in the state. Reportedly, the first incident took place after a person – Sharangdaran – died of shock after witnessing a clash between LDF and UDF activists in Haripad. The violent incident took place at Pathiyankara when a group of people attacked Congress functionary Manikuttan's house.
The second incident took place in Palakkad district after Njarakkulangara native Gangadharan (75) died while waiting in a queue to cast his vote in Palappuram near Ottapalam. Reportedly, Gangadharan collapsed inside the booth while the election officers were checking his voter ID.
