Daijiworld Media Network - Kasargod (SP)

Kasargod, Apr 17: Kasargod constituency saw 64% polling on Thursday April 16. The polling started off on a brisk note in the morning but the enthusiasm was found waning as the day progressed. It may be noted, that the constituency had seen 77% polling in the year 2004. The plus point of this election was that it was incident-free, barring some minor confusions and incidents.

Kasargod constituency has 11.11 lac voters and people voted through 1,052 polling booths. Current MP P Karunakaran from the Left Front, Shahida Kamal of the United Front and K Surendran from the BJP were the main contenders, while the total number of candidates who tested their fortunes, was seven.

After some objections were raised on the booth agent issue, voting had to be suspended at Palawayal booth in the district. As the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) developed snags at the Turti government school booth in Trikaripura, the polling was suspended for about half an hour there, till the machine was replaced. In booth No.23 located in Ajanur government fisheries college, the EVM faced problem thrice during the day.

In a handful of booths, incidents like defacing the Congress symbol and sticking of stickers on the symbol of the BJP were reported. BJP district president Jagadish and others have alleged that CPI(M) voters had cast proxy votes.