Kerala Lok Sabha Elections 2024: 25.61 % Polling Recorded Till 11 Am, Check Key Candidates And Phase 2 Polling Constituencies

Kerala Lok Sabha Elections 2024: 25.61% of polling was recorded  till 11 am in Kerala's 20 Lok Sabha seats for the 2024 general election after commencement of voting at 7am on Friday. People began arriving at the state's over 25,000 polling booths early in the morning to avoid the expected hot weather later in the day. During the election, over 66,000 security personnel were deployed and a webcasting system was used to monitor the process.

Voting began with a mock poll that included votes for all candidates, including NOTA, listed on an EVM.
According to the EC's instructions, at least 50 votes were cast in the mock poll, and actual polling began after the EVMs were cleared. Around 2.77 crore voters will decide the fate of the 194 candidates contesting the state's 20 Lok Sabha constituencies.

Will the BJP's drought in Kerala end? Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi's sharp attack on the Congress boost turnout after a relatively muted voter enthusiasm last week? These are some of the questions on people's minds ahead of the second phase of Lok Sabha elections.

Key Candidates In Fray In Kerala Lok Sabha Elections:

Among the notable candidates contesting in this phase are Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from Kerala's Wayanad, where he faces the CPI's Annie Raja and state BJP chief K. Surendran, and Congress' Shashi Tharoor vs BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Thiruvananthapuram.

Two union ministers, the majority of sitting MPs, a state minister, three actors, and a few MLAs were among the candidates who tried their political luck this time in Kerala, where the CPI(M)-led ruling LDF, the Congress-led UDF, and the BJP-led NDA all ran active and aggressive poll campaigns.

The BJP is relying on actor Suresh Gopi, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, and Anil Antony, the son of veteran Congress leader A K Antony, to establish a presence in Kerala, which has never elected a BJP MP. Chandrasekhar faces three-time Congress MP Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram.

Key Constituencies 

To ensure a free and transparent election, a webcasting system has been put in place for live monitoring of all booths in eight of Kerala's 14 districts: Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Palakkad, Thrissur, and Thiruvananthapuram. In the remaining six districts, this system would monitor 75% of the booths.

The Kottayam constituency has the most candidates at 14, while Alathur has the fewest at five. Notably, there are 13 candidates in Kozhikode, and 12 in Kollam and Kannur. The total number of candidates is 194, with 169 men and 25 women. The Vatakara constituency has the highest number of female candidates, four. 

The webcasting facility was implemented to ensure transparent elections by preventing booth grabbing, money distribution, and fraudulent voting, according to the statement. The visuals would be monitored live in control rooms set up in the offices of the CEO and the Returning Officers for the 20 Lok Sabha seats, the statement said.