THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Attingal has witnessed a decrease in voter turnout compared to 2019 general elections. With only 69.40 per cent of voters casting their votes, the constituency has seen a significant decline compared to 2019, which was around 74.21 per cent.
During the morning hours on Friday, almost every polling station had witnessed heavy footfall, which continued till later in the afternoon. During the evening hours, however, the voting percentage didn’t pick up pace, much to the disappointment of the political parties. LDF and BJP candidates V Joy and V Muraleedharan feel that the low voter turnout could adversely impact the UDF.
Sitting MP and UDF candidate Adoor Prakash blamed the sweltering heat, delays in polling process, and brewing resentment among the public against the ruling governments at the state and the centre, for the significant decline in the voting turnout.
Adoor Prakash had won the 2019 elections with a margin of 38,247 votes and had secured a total of 3,80,995 votes. “Many people had to return without casting their votes because of the slow voting procedure. The polling officials also failed to rise to the occasion and this has impacted the voting percentage. Besides this, the public has been unhappy with both the governments at the Centre and the state. Pensions have been delayed, and many had approached me during the election campaign seeking solutions. All these factors have reflected in the voter turnout,” said Adoor Prakash.
LDF candidate V Joy said that the low voter turnout will not impact him or the LDF. “Our voters have cast their votes without fail and I strongly feel that the UDF camp has failed to woo their voters to the polling booths. This is the cause of the dip in the voting percentage. The LDF had lost only in the 2019 general elections by a negligible number of votes,” V Joy told TNIE.
Meanwhile, BJP candidate V Muraleedharan said that a majority of the booths had completed the election procedure by 6pm and that only a couple of booths had encountered problems. “In 2019, the increased voting percentage had benefitted the UDF. However, this time, the dip in voting percentage will definitely affect them. We have succeeded in winning the votes of citizens who used to support other parties,” said V Muraleedharan.