KOTTAYAM: The big fuzz over the election in Puthuppally reached curtains on Tuesday but it was rather surprising to notice that this year's voter turnout was the lowest recorded in the constituency in the last 10 years. Talks of development, Oommen Chandy’s passing, and a slew of other things failed to click a chord with the voters as the numbers proved to be appallingly low.
The left and right fronts have hours left to tinker until the results come out on Friday. Counting of votes will begin at 8 a.m. on Friday at Baselios College, Kottayam. In the last election, the polling was 74.84 percent. It reached 74.44 percent in 2011 and 77.40 percent in 2016.
State and national leaders were brought to Puthuppally only with the aim to increase voter turnouts. Alas, the result has been not so convincing for the political parties to cherish.
Polling started at 7 am on Tuesday with most of the polling booths seeing large beeline queues just after 15 minutes. Within an hour, 4.7 percent voting was recorded in 182 booths. The polling reached over 50 percent by 2 p.m. and this brought in optimism as a huge turnout was predicted. However, hopes were dashed when the polling percentage dropped for the next two hours due to rain.
Polling recorded good numbers in Manarcad, Meenadom, Puthuppally, and Pampady panchayats till noon. In Lakkattoor, a power outage was reported at the MGM Higher Secondary School booth. Mobile phone flashlights were used to continue voting in this booth. UDF candidate Chandy Oommen complained about the delay in voting in Manarcad booth number 88. Voting was completed here at 6.50 p.m.
Chandy Oommen started his morning by praying at his father's tomb at 6 a.m. He later reached Georgian Public School with his family at 9:30 a.m. to cast his vote. LDF candidate Jaick C Thomas voted at Kaniyamkunnu LP school in Manarcad at 8:45 a.m. NDA candidate Lijin Lal hails from Kaduthuruthy, so he didn't have any vote in Puthuppally.
A good number of youngsters from the Puthuppally belt now reside in foreign countries, especially Europe. Unless for any major elections, these people won’t return to their homeland. The absence of youngsters is now mooted as the chief reason that pulled back the voter turnouts.