Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala recorded 74.06 per cent polling in the April 6elections to the 140 seats in the state assembly. Of the 2,03,27,893 electors who cast their franchise, 1,04,68,936 are women, 98,58,842 men and 115 others, according to the figures released by the Election commission on Saturday. There are a total of 2.74 crore voters in the state. The election to the 140 assembly seats was "absolutely peaceful, free and fair", Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena had said.
Out of the 957 candidates, prominent contestants included Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, 11 of his cabinet colleagues, leader of opposition in the assembly, Ramesh Chennithala, senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy, former Union minister, K J Alphons, ''Metroman'' E Sreedharan, BJP state president K Surendran and a galaxy of nine film and television personalities. The state witnessed a never before fierce battle between the LDF, UDF and the BJP-NDA, with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Home minister Amit Shah, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and CPI(M) general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, among others, hitting the campaign trail.
The last assembly election in 2016 saw 77.53 per cent voter turnout, while the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 saw a participation of 77.84 per cent electors. The local body polls in 2020 saw a voter turnout of 76.2 per cent. In the 2016 assembly elections, LDF rode to power with 91 seats, while UDF garnered 47. The BJP got one seat and independent candidate P C George won one.
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