THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A high voter turnout in the coastal areas at the fag end of the polling time pushed the voting percentage in the Attingal constituency closer to the state average. The booths along the coastal road have seen the rush after 1pm when the overall voting percentage in the constituency was around 40%. Women and elderly chose to cast their votes in the evening in several booths in the coastal regions of Thumpa, Maryanad, Puthukurichi, Perumathura, Perunguzhi, Poothura and Anchuthengu.
“The women are busy with their household and other livelihood matters in the morning. But they did come to booths by afternoon,” said Gerald Franklin a booth-level agent at Puthikurichy.
The voter turnout in the coastal area was also closely linked to the mass or Juma being held at religious centres in the locality. At Perumathura and Perunghuzhi the rush began after the Juma at the Central Juma Masjid and Valiya Palli at 1.30pm. The boat workers in the region decided not to operate boats on Election Day to attend the Juma and cast their votes. At the booth at Government LPS Perumathura, which is a designated sensitive booth, a heavy rush witnessed since the afternoon to the last hours, forcing the officials to close the gate at the scheduled time.
The seven assembly constituencies in Attingal reported brisk polling from 7am itself. However, the voting percentage dipped from the 74 % recorded in 2019.
Attingal
2024: 68.84%
2019: 74.4%