Reflecting a general trend witnessed across the State, the two Lok Sabha constituencies in Thiruvananthapuram district had a considerable drop in voting percentage. As per the information from the Election Commission of India (ECI) at 8.30 p.m. on Friday, the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency recorded 66.46% polling, while the Attingal constituency recorded 69.40% voting percentage.
The polling percentages this year are a considerable drop from the 73.45% and 74.23% recorded in Thiruvananthapuram and Attingal respectively in the 2019 general elections. Owing to the high day time temperatures in recent weeks, voters made a beeline to the polling booths quite early in the day to complete their voting process before the searing heat wave set in.
Transgender voters
Of the 14.30 lakh voters in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, 9.50 lakh cast their votes on Friday. In the Attingal constituency, 9.69 lakh of the 13.96 lakh voters exercised their franchise. The voters included 28 transgender voters in Thiruvananthapuram and 13 in Attingal.
Long queues were witnessed at polling booths both in urban and rural centres of the district by 8 a.m., with voters having to queue up for an average of 45 minutes to one hour to cast their votes. West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, United Democratic Front candidate and sitting MP of the Thiruvananthapuram constituency Shashi Tharoor, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Central Committee member Thomas Isaac, Congress Working Committee member A.K. Antony, Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) candidate for the Attingal constituency V. Joy, and other leaders cast their vote in the district.
While Pannian Raveendran, the LDF candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, cast his vote in his hometown Kannur, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram constituency, did not cast his vote. Young voters, many of them first timers, queued up in large numbers at polling booths. Abhi Krishna, an engineering student and a first time voter, who cast his vote in the Attingal constituency, said that development of the capital district’s suburbs, including Attingal, was the primary issue in his mind while casting his first vote.
Senior citizens were also not short of enthusiasm, despite the punishing heat. 80-year old Lalithamma, a voter in the Attingal Lok Sabha constituency, said that she cast her first vote at the age of 21 and has unfailingly voted in every election since then. She came unaccompanied to the polling station, walking a couple of kilometres from her home, as she couldn’t afford the autorickshaw charges.
Polling percentage
The Assembly constituency-wise polling percentage in the district is as follows: Kazhakuttam (65.12%), Vattiyurkavu (62.87), Thiruvananthapuram (59.70%), Nemom (66.05%), Parassala (70.60%), Kovalam (69.81%), Neyyattinakara (70.72%), Varkala (68.42%), Attingal (69.88%), Chirayinkeezhu (68.10%), Nedumangad (70.35%), Vamanapuram (69.11%), Aruvikkara (70.31%) and Kattakada (69.53%).
