Fronts perturbed as Pathanamthitta records significant drop in voter turnout

PATHANAMTHITTA: The lowest turnout in the state was recorded in Pathanamthitta and it has become a concern for all the fronts. There is a significant drop of 10.87 percent compared to last time.

Opinions have been raised that indifference towards the candidates is the reason and extreme heat has affected the polling.

The vote difference between Anto Antony, who won last time, and Veena George, who was his nearest rival, was only 4.31 percent. Anto secured about 8 percent more votes over K. Surendran who was in the third position.

LDF and UDF were shocked by the drop in polling by more than ten percent this time. While there is allegation that Antony, who was an MP here for fifteen years, did nothing in the constituency, LDF candidate Thomas Isaac was also criticized as not being the right candidate for the politics of Pathanamthitta. BJP candidate Anil Antony's criticism of his father AK Antony in harsh words caused disdain among the voters.

Nineteen percent of people voted in the first three hours of polling. At 1 pm, it rose to 42 percent. It was expected that the total polling would cross seventy percent. However, polling booths were never crowded after noon.

There was a large decrease in polling in the assembly constituencies Poonjar and Kanjirapally, where the UDF has a large influence, and the LDF strongholds of Aranmula, Ranni and Konni. In Poonjar, the turnout was 12.20 percent, in Kanjirapalli 10.77 percent, in Aranmula 9.15 percent, and in Ranni 8.08 percent.

Voter turnout in Pathanamthitta

2024 : 63.37

2019 : 74.24

The difference is 10.87