PATHANAMTHITTA: In a tightly-contested election in Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency, the first-ever after delimitation, approximately 65 percent of the electorate exercised their franchise on Thursday.
Braving heavy rain in many parts of the constituency in the afternoon, voters came out in large numbers to cast their votes.
By and large, the polling was peaceful across the constituency, official sources said.
Among the seven Assembly constituencies, Adoor recorded the highest voting percentage of 68 in contrast to 61.5 percent in Aranmula. Poonjar constituency recorded a polling percentage of 67.54, Kanjirappally 67.28 , Konni 67.8 and Ranni and Tiruvalla 63 per cent each.
LONG QUEUES AFTER 5 P.M: Long queues of voters were seen in almost all the polling booths in towns and semi-urban areas even after the scheduled closing time of polling at 5 p m.
FAULTY VOTING MACHINES: Voting was delayed in several booths due to non-working of electronic voting machines. In most cases, the fault was noticed during the beginning of the voting.
In booth number 102 at Mezhuveli PHSS, voting was delayed for about two hours.
The polling began only at 9 a m after replacing the faulty machine with a new one.
Voting machine faults were reported from booth number 49 at Seethathode Government HSS, 84th booth at Kozhencherry MTLPS, 26th booth at Anappara Government LPS near Pathanamthitta, 98th booth at Nariyapuram Government UPS and 66th booth at Ranni Iythala Govt LPS.
LDF COUNCILLOR HURT IN CLASH: LDF councillor of Pathanamthitta Municipality Shajahan was hurt in a clash between LDF and UDF activists near Kulasekharapathi booth in Pathanamthitta in the afternoon.
The councillor was later admitted to the General Hospital. In a polling booth at Othara in Aranmula Assembly constituency, a minor clash between LDF and UDF workers was reported.