- Thursday, November 14, 2024
The polling started on a brisk note, but it soon tapered off and it took eight hours to cross the 50 per cent mark
By: Shajil Kumar
THE WAYANAD Lok Sabha constituency, where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made her electoral debut, saw a voter turnout of around 65 per cent during the bypoll on Wednesday.
This was a decline from the close to 74 per cent turnout recorded in the polls held in April, when her brother and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi contested from the hill constituency.
It was over 80 per cent when Rahul contested the polls from the hill constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
This was the lowest polling percentage recorded in the constituency since its formation in 2009.
When polling started at 7 am, it progressed briskly, raising hopes among the political parties that the voter turnout would surpass the previous one.
However, those hopes faded as the turnout crossed the 50 per cent mark after eight hours of polling.
The final voter turnout percentage released by the Election Commission (EC) at close to 9 pm was 64.72 per cent.
The Congress-led UDF dismissed concerns that the reduced voter turnout would adversely affect the margin they expected for Priyanka.
According to Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, V D Satheesan, the lower turnout is due to the lack of enthusiasm among voters in areas dominated by the CPI(M)-led LDF.
AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal said the drop in polling percentage would not affect the margin the party expects for its candidate.
On the other hand, the LDF and BJP-led NDA rejected the UDF claim and contended that the reduction in voter turnout was due to people not turning up to vote in areas dominated by the Congress and its allies.
Emotional scenes were witnessed at the polling stations set up for the survivors of the landslides, which hit the hill district in July this year.
Many of these voters saw their neighbours and close friends after a long time since the disaster.
A special free vehicle service has been provided for landslide survivors to reach the polling stations from the various places they are temporarily residing.
People arrived early in the morning at the 1,354 polling booths in the hill constituency of Wayanad where there are over 14 lakh registered voters, according to the EC figures.
The Wayanad constituency comprises seven assembly segments of Mananthavady (ST), Sulthan Bathery (ST), and Kalpetta in Wayanad district; Thiruvambady in Kozhikode district; and Eranad, Nilambur, and Wandoor in Malappuram district.
A bypoll was necessitated in the hill constituency after Rahul Gandhi, who won the Wayanad LS seat in the general elections held earlier this year, vacated it after he also won from the Rae Bareli constituency.
There are 16 candidates in the fray for the seat with Congress-led UDF’s candidate and Rahul’s sister Priyanka, who is making her electoral debut, CPI(M)-led LDF’s Sathyan Mokeri and BJP-led NDA’s Navya Haridas being the top contenders.
Polling in Wayanad continued amidst tight security arrangements which included deployment of over 2,500 security personnel and live monitoring of the by-election process by an extensive webcasting system. (PTI)
