High-pitched polling after high-voltage campaign in Vadakara

Voters in Vadakara brave scorching heat to cast their ballots in high-stakes Lok Sabha election.

The canopy spread across the courtyard of Palur LP School in Thikkodi was not enough to shield voters queueing up outside the polling booth from the scorching summer heat on April 26 (Friday) morning.

“It is not yet 10 a.m., and the line of voters is already stretching outside the premises. There is no cover. Some people have already returned home unable to stand this weather,” a local resident quipped. This polling booth along NH 66, near Koyilandy, more or less reflected the spirit of the high-pitched electoral battle in the Vadakara Lok Sabha segment.

Though voting started only at 7 a.m., some people had already reached their booths much earlier. But not many were fortunate enough to finish the voting fast as the polling kept dragging on, and long queues developed outside by 9 a.m. itself. Perhaps, it was this voters’ enthusiasm that prompted Shafi Parambil, United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate, a native of Palakkad, to reach there as soon as he cast his vote. “I voted in Manappullikkavu and reached the Shoranur Railway Station by road. I caught the next available train bound for Kozhikode,” he told The Hindu outside a restaurant at Kainatti in Vadakara town.

Mr. Parambil was seen interacting with customers and staff. He was also happily obliging their demand to take selfies. “See, some people are not even allowing him to go to the washroom,” Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader N. Venu, who accompanied Mr. Parambil, said.

Mr. Venu’s party, though not an official ally of the UDF, is solidly backing the Palakkad MLA. Yellowish flex boards and posters featuring a beaming Mr. Parambil are seen outside a Shiva Temple at Orkkatteri near Kunnummakkara, where counters set up by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the UDF lay cheek by jowl. ‘RMP-supported UDF candidate’ is prominently written on some flex boards on the temple premises that lead up to a polling booth at Orkkatteri LP School. A large number of senior citizens, including women, are seen outside and inside the booth there.

It was the women voters themselves who were more enthusiastic to greet K.K. Shailaja, LDF candidate, when she visited the polling booth at Kadathanad Rajas Higher Secondary School at Purameri in Nadapuram. Asked about the high polling percentage in the Thalassery Assembly constituency, Ms. Shailaja retorted, “I hope that is a good sign for us.”

Only Ms. Shailaja’s posters and hoardings could be spotted outside the polling centre at a welfare centre for children and elderly at the nearby Karukulam. The scene outside St. George High School in Vilangad was sombre as gun-clad security personnel stood guard considering the politically sensitive nature of the region. Even around 6 p.m., many voters were still milling around polling booths in the constituency as police personnel started closing the gates. Tokens were given to those in the queue to help them vote. The day is still young.