At 7 a.m on Tuesday, when polling began for the local body elections, long queues, of the young and the old, were witnessed across most of the urban booths in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
By the first hour, as much as 6.04% of votes were polled. That early surge in votes, despite the prevailing COVID-19 situation, raised hopes of an improved polling percentage this year, compared to 2015, when only 62.9 % votes were polled.
Though the pace of polling remained so for the next two hours, a lull set in soon, after which there was no late surge to salvage the numbers. By the time the figures from the State Election Commission came in at 9 p.m, only 59.73% of the voters in the city Corporation had cast their votes, despite it being a more keenly contested, much hyped three-cornered battle compared to 2015
Long line
At the polling booth at St.Mary’s Higher Secondary School in Pattom, a long line of voters wearing masks and holding small sanitiser bottles in their pockets were visible even as the mock polling was progressing inside.
The police personnel and other officials posted here were seen taking extra effort to make the voters maintain physical distancing. However, in some booths, physical distancing norms went for a toss as voters queued up close together as they used to do in past elections.
“I came in early expecting there to be less rush at this time. But, it seems many others also thought the same,” said Bhaskaran, a voter. Compared to the urban wards, the polling was slow to pick up in the coastal wards. At St.Peter’s LP School in Kannanthura, only a small queue of voters was visible around 8 a.m. But, an hour later, a long queue was witnessed at St.Antony’s Public School in Valiyathura, also on the coast.
In the afternoon, the numbers were steady without any major surge. Towards the fag end of the day, a few voters, who had tested COVID-19 positive or were in quarantine, turned up wearing PPE kits to cast their votes.
Confusing signals
The not so encouraging polling numbers have given confusing signals to the three major fronts, but all of their leaders expressed confidence that it is a favourable sign for them.